There's a Place for Us: How Ethnic Identities Are Revealed in Ethnic-Specific Organizations
type: CreativeWork
description: Ethnic-specific organizations have long been features of American society. Historically, they have provided ethnic actors with a means of preserving culture and history. They have also been sites where collective interests are pursued. In this dissertation I study two ethnic-specific organizations. Using identity, incorporation and inequality, as essential dimensions of American ethnicity, I describe how the political and civic work that occurs in two organizations reveals group boundaries. My data and analysis support three major findings. First, I find that the identities that emerge from this kind of organizational work are transactional identities. Transactional identities are identities that are confirmed in social interaction with ethnic and non-co-ethnic actors (i.e., outgroups and mainstream institutions). I argue that transactional identities reflect specific histories and events that determine shared experiences within an ethnic group and are easily distinguishable from the shared experiences other groups have. Secondly, I find that these sites provide groups with a platform to address experiences of inequality in multicultural environments, such as American society. And lastly, I find that these sites provide ethnic groups a means to demonstrate cultural citizenship in American society and institutional belonging in other forums.
abstract: Ethnic-specific organizations have long been features of American society. Historically, they have provided ethnic actors with a means of preserving culture and history. They have also been sites where collective interests are pursued. In this dissertation I study two ethnic-specific organizations. Using identity, incorporation and inequality, as essential dimensions of American ethnicity, I describe how the political and civic work that occurs in two organizations reveals group boundaries. My data and analysis support three major findings. First, I find that the identities that emerge from this kind of organizational work are transactional identities. Transactional identities are identities that are confirmed in social interaction with ethnic and non-co-ethnic actors (i.e., outgroups and mainstream institutions). I argue that transactional identities reflect specific histories and events that determine shared experiences within an ethnic group and are easily distinguishable from the shared experiences other groups have. Secondly, I find that these sites provide groups with a platform to address experiences of inequality in multicultural environments, such as American society. And lastly, I find that these sites provide ethnic groups a means to demonstrate cultural citizenship in American society and institutional belonging in other forums.
author: Jackson, Crystal
keywords: Christians, Cuban, Ethnicity, Iraq, Organizations, Sociology
date published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:56:24Z
provider: Loyola University Chicago
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Loyola University Chicago