Institutsional’naia teoriia etnichnosti [An Institutional Theory of Ethnicity]

Abstract

The article examines methodological aspects of applying institutional approaches in research on ethnicity. An institutional analysis, as the author points out, is instrumental in moving research from the level of studying the history of an ethnic group onto the level of exploring its structural development. The application of an institutional approach helps us to cast a new perspective on a variety of issues such as reproduction of ethnicity, ethnic conflict, subethnic groups, ethnic development, etc. The author argues that the study of ethnicity should be brought into the context of individual behavior within the institutional space of a group, and that ethnology should adopt an institutional theoretical stance in order to fully realize the methodological potential of neo-institutionalism