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9781009268370

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'Green offers a novel theory of the role industrialization plays in re-shaping ethnic landscapes, highlighting the transformative effects of increases in the value of labour relative to land. He provides compelling quantitative and qualitative evidence from a wide range of country cases, and levels a powerful challenge to prevailing accounts.' Evan Lieberman, Professor of Political Science and Total Chair on Contemporary Africa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 'Green's brilliant new study of how ethnicity changes in response to industrialization offers hope and a deeper understanding of how ethnic identities evolve. Green shows how breaking free from agricultural life also breaks the hold of local ethnic identities; at the same time, he shows how 'top-down' efforts by states to reshape or assimilate their people are generally ineffective or even counter-productive. Using historical studies, cross-national data analysis, and impressive fieldwork, this wide-ranging yet detailed analysis provides convincing evidence that ethnicity is not fixed, but responds to social change.' Jack A. Goldstone, George Mason University 'Green takes on big questions about how the structural transformation of the political economy shapes the nature of ethnic identity. This book is terrifically ambitious in theoretical and empirical scope, engaging with a wide range of distinctive empirical cases in both the Global North and Global South. It makes us reconsider how we study the politics of ethnic change in the social sciences.' Lauren M. MacLean, Arthur F. Bentley Chair of Political Science, Indiana University-Bloomington

'Green offers a novel theory of the role industrialization plays in re-shaping ethnic landscapes, highlighting the transformative effects of increases in the value of labour relative to land. He provides compelling quantitative and qualitative evidence from a wide range of country cases, and levels a powerful challenge to prevailing accounts.' Evan Lieberman, Professor of Political Science and Total Chair on Contemporary Africa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 'Green's brilliant new study of how ethnicity changes in response to industrialization offers hope and a deeper understanding of how ethnic identities evolve. Green shows how breaking free from agricultural life also breaks the hold of local ethnic identities; at the same time, he shows how 'top-down' efforts by states to reshape or assimilate their people are generally ineffective or even counter-productive. Using historical studies, cross-national data analysis, and impressive fieldwork, this wide-ranging yet detailed analysis provides convincing evidence that ethnicity is not fixed, but responds to social change.' Jack A. Goldstone, Hazel Chair in Public Policy, George Mason University 'Green takes on big questions about how the structural transformation of the political economy shapes the nature of ethnic identity. This book is terrifically ambitious in theoretical and empirical scope, engaging with a wide range of distinctive empirical cases in both the Global North and Global South. It makes us reconsider how we study the politics of ethnic change in the social sciences.' Lauren M. MacLean, Arthur F. Bentley Chair of Political Science, Indiana University-Bloomington

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Elliott D. Green is Associate Professor of Development Studies in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics. His research focusses on the origins of ethnic and national identification and the political economy of development, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

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