Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks — A Book Review

This book review examines Andreas Wimmer's seminal work "Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks" (2013), which presents a comparative analytical framework for understanding how ethnic boundaries are constructed and vary across different historical and social contexts. Wimmer challenges both Herderian and radical constructivist approaches by proposing a middle-ground theory that integrates institutional, power-based, and network perspectives. The review evaluates his empirical findings from Swiss urban neighborhoods and theoretical contributions to ethnicity studies, while addressing strengths and limitations of his boundary-group conceptualization.