Hierarchical Structures and Social Value
The Creation of Black and Irish Identities in the United States

Combining theoretical and historical analysis, this book develops the thesis that the concepts of 'race' and 'ethnicity' are socially constructed.

Richard Williams (Author)

9780521351478, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 November 1990

206 pages
23.8 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.462 kg

"...scholars comprise the most appropriate audience for William's insightful theoretical analysis." Suzanne Model, Social Forces

Combining theoretical and historical analysis, this book develops the thesis that the concepts of 'race' and 'ethnicity' are socially constructed. With case studies of the incorporation of Blacks and Irish immigrants into the social structure of the United States, Richard Williams demonstrates that the social values placed upon these groups result from their placement into specific labour categories rather than from inherent attributes. The author analyses the process by which the social identities of Blacks and Irish developed in their native lands. He argues that the social structure in the United States at its founding was hierarchical from its inception and that immigrant wage labourers were demanded to fill positions created by that structure. The conceptions of their identities developed through a transfer of the value assigned to their social positions to the groups themselves. Racial and ethnic identities represent the legitimisation of social stratification based on power relations.

Preface
List of maps, tables, chart
1. 'Race' and 'ethnicity': forms of vertical classification
2. Historical structures and social marks as hierarchical systems
3. The hierarchical context of the creation of the United States
4. Structural slots and identity creation in 17th century Virginia
5. The hierarchical structure of West African societies: theoretical notions
6. The logic of a trade in humans
7. The creation of a slave labor slot in Virginia
8. America on the eve of mass migration from Ireland
9. Ireland in the periphery
10. The Great Famine and forced emigration
11. Conclusion
Notes
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies [JFSL1]