Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-293) and index.

Foreword -- Preface to the second edition -- Preface to the first edition -- The puzzles of ethnicity and race -- An unexpected persistence and power -- A puzzling diversity of forms -- Ethnicity and race as sociological topics -- An outline of what follows -- Mapping the terrain: definitions -- The definition of ethnicity -- The definition of race -- Ethnicity and race -- Nationalism and belonging -- Conclusion -- Fixed or fluid? Alternative views of ethnicity and race -- The assimilationist assumption -- Primordialism -- Circumstantialism -- Primordialism and circumstantialism compared -- Conclusion -- A constructionist approach -- The construction of ethnic and racial identities -- The nature of ethnic and racial bonds -- The problem of authenticity -- The reconstruction of circumstances -- The logic of ethnic and racial construction -- Reframing intergroup relations -- Conclusion -- Case studies in identity construction -- Case 1. The power of circumstances: Blacks and Indians in the United States -- Case 2. Between assertion and assignment: Chinese Americans in Mississippi -- Case 3. From thick ethnicity to thin: German Americans -- Case 4. Constructed primordiality and ethnic power: Afrikaners in South Africa -- Case 5. From thin ethnicity to thick: basketball and war in the former Yugoslavia -- Case 6. Race, culture, and belonging: who is France? -- A comparison of cases -- Conclusion -- Construction sites: contextual factors in the making of identities -- Critical sites -- Politics -- Labor markets -- Residential space -- Social institutions -- Culture -- Daily experience -- Summarizing contextual factors -- Conclusion -- What they bring: group factors in the making of identities -- Preexisting identities -- Population size -- Internal differentiation -- Social capital -- Human capital -- Symbolic repertoires -- Groups, contexts, and agendas -- Conclusion -- Making sense and making selves in a changing world -- The impact of modernity -- Mixing and multiplicity -- Separation and consolidation -- Making sense, making selves, making others -- Conclusion -- References -- Index.