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OCR for page 77
Culture, Identity, and Conflict:
Suggested Areas for Further Research
Yoshiko M. Herrera
Harvard University
nder the heading of identity and conflict, there are three main areas
where more research is needed: (1) theorization of the relationship
between identity and action; (2) empirical work on the definition,
measurement, and development of identities; and (3) integrated ap-
proaches to the role of economic and cultural factors in identity politics.
IDENTITY AND ACTION
Much of the research on identity is unclear concerning how identity
affects the behavior of actors; that is, how does having an identity lead to
action? The relationship between identity and action has to be more fully
addressed, especially if the goal is to explain specific outcomes, such as
ethnic conflict. Currently there are at least three main theories of how
identity affects behavior.]
The first is essentially a theory of interpretation; that is, having an
identity allows actors to interpret the external world in particular ways.
In this case, the material or social incentives for a particular action take on
different values according to one's identity. Thus, action still flows from
material or social incentives, but identity affects the valuation of incen-
tives.
1For a review, see Abdelal, R., Y. M. Herrera, A. I. Johnston, and T. Martin. Treating
Identity as a Variable: Measuring the Content, Intensity, and Contestation of Identity. Pa-
per, presented at APSA, August 30-September 2, 2001.
77
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CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION IN MULTIETHNIC SOCIETIES
A second theory corresponds roughly to what is sometimes referred
to as role theory. Here the central causal process in behavior is the perfor-
mance of roles. The behavior of actors is more or less consistent with
actors' role expectations flowing from their identities thus, if we are
peace loving, we should act in a peace-loving fashion. Identity provides
socially appropriate roles that actors perform and that are taken for
granted. In this conceptualization, the reasons to act in a particular way
are found in a decision to perform a role, not in a decision to choose
between optimizing paths to some preferred outcome.
Alternatively, social identity theory suggests that the central causal
process in behavior derives from in-group and out-group differentiation,
not the roles or identity traits per se that are attributed to in-groups and
out-groups. In this case, action is in some sense a reaction to, and condi-
tioned by the existence of, those who are different. Some relationships
(with the group that is socially recognized as similar) are more coopera-
tive than others (with the group that is socially recognized as different)
even if the same issue is at stake (territory, power, or status). These three
theories are obviously not the only ways to understand the relationship
between identity and action, but they may be a useful beginning.
MEASURING IDENTITY
The enormous amount of work on theorizing identity has resulted in
some definitional and methodological clarity but also in a good deal of
chaos. While we have developed many theories of identity, too few have
been put to work in terms of measuring and documenting the develop-
ment of actual identities in the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Too many
works begin by assuming the existence of particular identities, and focus
instead on analyzing the effects of such identities (without, however, nec-
essarily making explicit the relationship between identity and action see
above). In addition, many works use proxies for identity, such as lan-
guage or racial categories, rather than attempting to measure identity
explicitly. If the contributions of constructivist approaches to ethnicity are
to be appreciated, we should think about how constructivism informs
scholarly categorization of identity, including, for example, the construc-
tion of datasets on ethnicity.2
2On appreciating theoretical advances in data sets, see Symposium: Cumulative Findings
in the Study of Ethnic Politics. Pp. 7-25 in APSA-Comparative Politics Newsletter Winter
2001; on measuring identity, see Abdelal et al., 2001.
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CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND CONFLICT: AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 79
ECONOMIC BASES OF IDENTITY POLITICS
In recent years, as scholars have recognized that economic issues are
integral to identity politics and nationalist movements, analyses have in-
creasingly focused on the examination of the economic factors. However,
because the methodology used in analyses of political or cultural factors
traditionally has been quite different from that used in the analysis of
economic factors, most studies of identity politics focus either on politi-
cal/cultural factors, or alternatively, on economic factors. In studies that
attempt to account for both, often ideology or beliefs, on the one hand,
account for political and cultural variables, while instrumental rational-
ity, on the other hand, accounts for economic variables.
More recently, there have been several significant attempts to account
for cultural and economic variables using integrated models. There are
two basic types of integrated models. In the first, culture is used instru-
mentally for material gain.3 In the second, cultural benefits substitute for
material benefits.4 Although the integrated models seem theoretically able
to account for a range of outcomes, unfortunately there are two areas
where these models remain inadequate. First, one must be able to explain
why identity-based movements occur in both wealthy and poor regions.
In other words, within or across countries, why do different economic
conditions lead to similar outcomes or vice versa? A second problem with
current integrated models of identity politics is that they cannot account
for the fact that local notions of economic advantage are often inconsistent
with outside assessments, and therefore current models cannot explain
seemingly irrational economic behavior that is, groups or elites pursue
identity-based claims even when it appears they will be materially worse
off for doing so.
Thus, to develop a better understanding of the relationship between
economic factors and identity or cultural politics, the researcher is faced
with a triple task of
· further advancing integrated models that can account for both cul-
tural and economic factors
· explaining the general pattern of identity politics, that is, why iden-
tity-based movements occur in both rich and poor regions
3For examples, see R. sates. 1983. Modernization, Ethnic competition, and the Rational-
ity of Politics in contemporary Africa. Pp. 152-171 in state versus Ethnic Claims: African
Policy Dilemmas, D. Rothchild and v. Olorunsola, eds. Boulder westview Press, and
Shepsle, K. and A. Rabushka. 1972. Politics in Plural societies. Columbus: Merrill.
4For examples, see Laitin, D. 1998. Identity in Formation: The Russian Speaking Popula-
tions in the Near Abroad. Ithaca: Cornell university Press.
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CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION IN MULTIETHNIC SOCIETIES
· better accounting for the apparent economic irrationality of some
identity movements
A useful line of research might consider that just as culture and poli-
tics can be analyzed in terms of instrumental rationality, so too can eco-
nomics be analyzed in terms of historically, socially constructed ideas.5 In
other words, economic data like other types of information including
demographic statistics, biological facts, and so forth are subject to mul-
tiple, legitimate understandings and uses by elites and groups. To put it
in the language of other contemporary debates, economic advantage and
disadvantage may be as imagined as nations. In previous integrated mod-
els, the relative economic situation comes in as a deus ex machine to explain
the variation. The models assume that ethnicity is fluid but that the eco-
nomic interests are definite and real. However, empirical evidence sug-
gests that economic interests may well be as fluid as ethnicity. This alter-
native theory of economic rationality builds on the nationalism literature
but addresses the one area of social information that has been ignored by
constructivist scholars, namely economic information. In addition, the
theory may advance the development of integrated models of identity
politics by providing a more satisfying explanation of how politicized
economic factors affect the development of identities.
5see Herrera, Y. M. 2001. Imagined Economies: Regionalism in the Russian Federation.
Unpublished manuscript. Harvard university.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
identity politics
