Ethnic Categories and Cultural Differences

Ethnic categories and cultural differences are rooted in the structure of social networks. The segregation of migrant groups in networks of personal relationships determines the extent to which cultural differences can be bridged and the salience of ethnic categories in multicultural societies. In line with relational sociology around Harrison White, the chapter develops a theoretical account of interethnic relations that examines the interplay of network patterns and meaning (categories and cultural differences). It draws on diverse theoretical strands from symbolic interactionism and social anthropology to Norbert Elias’s configurational sociology. This combination leads to conjectures about the ethnic pattering of networks and sociocultural constellations that resonate with empirical research from the sociology of migration.