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Accounting for Ethnic Discrimination

A Discursive Study Among Minority and Majority Group Members

Utrecht University

This article discusses the ways in which ethnic minority and majority group members account, in an interview context, for the existence of discrimination in Dutch society. Taking a discursive approach, the focus is on the strategies used to describe and explain discrimination.In both groups,certain members were found to use discursive strategies questioning the omnipresence of discrimination and problematizing its causes,whereas others employed devices that made discrimination appear factual, with the Dutch as its main agents. The use of these strategies was examined in relation to subject positions that the participants took up throughout the interview. It is concluded that the discursive strategies used can be understood in relation to the way speakers position themselves within particular discourses. Hence, similar discursive strategies function in different ways in different contexts, and both mainstream and discourse analytical studies on discrimination should not start from a simple majority-minority dichotomy.

Key Words: discrimination • ethnicity • positioning • accounts

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