Invisible boundaries within the middle class and the construction of ethnic identity

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. Current literature examines the existence of boundaries and the ways they construct ethnic identifications through visible acts. One line of research perceives the middle class as a homogenizing platform that lowers residential segregation and labor market discrimination, while another demonstrates how stereotypes and an occupational glass ceiling continue to operate, reinforcing minorities’ ethnic identifications. By contrast, this article demonstrates the significance of invisible boundaries for the study of ethnicity in the middle class. I center on the ways whereby microaggression, namely tacit everyday insults, signifies an ethnic difference between middle-class adolescents. Analyzing adolescents’ narratives shows how the classification of spaces has given rise in minority adolescents to inner experiences of incongruence and subordination. By constructing an ethnic identity that prevents adolescents perceiving themselves as middle-class subjects, invisible boundaries reinforce the ethno-class order.