Institute for Social Science Research

In this essay we identify some of the salient policies raised by the Conference on Comparative Ethnicity participants and assess the policy implications of the academic debates that dominated the conference. These observations draw upon both the paper presentations and the final session of the conference in which some of the participants discussed issues of importance to social policy and outlined the parameters of an emerging research agenda. Because the analytical focus and level of analysis has much to do with the types of inquiries that are pursued and the nature of the policies that are proposed, we focus here on ethnic group behavior, ethnic group interaction, and on the institutional context in which both behavior and interaction occur. It is within these domains that we can identify the salient policy issues of comparative ethnic significance.