Ethnicized Social Institutions: Measuring the Political Influence of Ethnicity

• In Event: New Frontiers in Identity Politics

Abstract

Ethnicity plays a key role in shaping elections, economic development, and other important
outcomes. Theories regarding the effect of ethnicity tend to assume that it structures people’s daily interactions through norms of obligation. Yet, studies estimate the effect of co-ethnicity or ethnic diversity on these outcomes without measuring whether such norms exist. This paper takes an important first step toward gauging the degree to which ethnicity drives obligations, or put differently, the extent to which there are ethnicized social institutions (ESI). It uses original survey data from Malawi and Zambia to measure ESI. It compares the measure of ESI with measures of ethnic diversity found in the literature, and then examines the effect of ESI on relationships between ethnicity and behavior established in extant studies. It finds that measures of ethnic diversity and ESI do not correlate perfectly and that explicitly measuring ESI sheds new light on the importance of variation in social institutions. It points to the importance of measuring and examining, rather than assuming, ESI.

Authors

• Ellen M. Lust, Cornell Univesity and University of Gothenburg

• Adam Harris, University College London

• Kristen Kao, University of Gothenburg

• Erica Ann Metheney, University of Gothenburg