ABSTRACT

This article is about self-defined social identities, other people’s perceptions of us and the potentially conflictual relationship between these two. Building on a Barthian focus on group boundaries, the article takes the interplay between external categorizations and internal group definitions as its point of departure to examine how individuals negotiate the boundaries of their social identities. Based on a case study of skilled migrants with racialized ethnicities in Finland, I look at how they express their self-defined identity as well-to-do, skilled professionals in the face of contradicting categorizations of them as un-skilled, lower-class migrant subjects. I identify two types of complementary approaches employed by the skilled migrants in boundary making strategies to their identity negotiations: those de-emphasizing ethnicity (or its importance), and those emphasizing class status. These approaches are two sides of the same coin; coming from different perspectives, they both aim at a more positively viewed identity, and for individuals to be seen as well-to-do, educated, working professionals, rather than as ethnic migrant subjects. As such, the article also highlights the interconnection of class and ethnicity for the social identities of skilled migrants in Finland.

摘要

本文是关于自定义的社会身份，其他人对我们的看法以及这两者之间潜在的冲突关系。基于Barthian对群体边界的关注，本文将外部分类与内部群体定义之间的相互作用作为出发点，以研究个人如何协商其社会身份的边界。基于对芬兰种族混血的技术移民的案例研究，我了解了他们如何将自己定义为富裕的，熟练的专业人员，以面对他们被归类为非技术，低下阶层的矛盾移民科目。我确定了技术移民在身份协商的边界制定策略中采用的两种互补方法：那些不强调种族（或其重要性）的人，以及那些强调阶级地位的人。这些方法是同一枚硬币的两个方面。他们从不同的角度出发，都以更加积极地看待自己的身份为目标，并且使个人被视为有才能，受过良好教育，在职的专业人员，而不是被视为移民族群的人。因此，本文还强调了阶级和种族之间的相互联系，以反映芬兰技术移民的社会身份。