Cultural Repertoires within Context: Institutions, Resources and Social Networks

Abstract

Through the process of ethnic dichotomization, or the use of different (cultural, biological) boundary markers to highlight differences between ethnic groups (as illustrated in students’ stereotypes of ethnic out-groups) and by considering rules that govern inter-ethnic interactions (or the structuring of interactions), students offer us a particular view of social reality – an image of social reality that they want to present to the researcher. However, their ideas about social reality, which can be conceptualized as cultural expressions, do not come falling out of the blue sky, but are chosen from a set of available cultural repertoires or frames of reference, which vary, in terms of their constitutive characteristics, according to the social context. These characteristics refer to the legitimate status of these views as ‘true representations of reality’, in terms of their mere availability, their taken for granted nature, their importance, the extent to which they can be modified, etc. Hence, cultural repertoires are informed by structure in that their key properties depend in part on the structure in which they develop. In fact, many students interviewed argued that young people cannot be held fully responsible for expressing racist views, as they are ‘too young to fully understand’ the complex realities of social life (are ignorant) and are vulnerable to indoctrination (are easily led), particularly through their family, which they recognized as legitimate agents of socialization.