Ethnic Realignment

Matthew Hoddie is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University.

• Chapter 1 A Theory of Ethnic RealignmentChapter 2 Documenting Ethnic RealignmentChapter 3 AustraliaChapter 4 The People's Republic of ChinaChapter 5 MalaysiaChapter 6 AssamChapter 7 Conclusions

This book provides an interesting, and in many ways original, approach to the understanding of ethnic identity formation. The author argues that ethnic identity is malleable, and in detailed and carefully documented case studies of four countries he shows how groups and individuals adjust their identities in response to political opportunities and pressures and policy incentives and constraints. Analyzing the tensions between assimilation and identity maintenance, and discussing how his findings relate to, and challenge, instrumentalist, constructivist, and other explanations, the author makes an important contribution to theorizing about ethnicity.