I am looking for research which applies boundary theory/boundary-work analysis to cultural/social differentiation.
Dear Emily, I think that the concept of boundary work was proposed originally by Gieryn in the early eighties to designate "the discursive attribution of selected qualities to scientists, scientific methods, and scientific claims for the purpose of drawing a rhetorical boundary between science and some less authoritative residual non-science. In recent years, sociologists have become interested in analyzing this process by looking at self-definitions of ordinary people, while paying particular attention to the salience of various racial and class groups in boundary work. For instance, Newman (1999) analyzes how poor fast-food workers define themselves in opposition to the unemployed poor. Lamont (1992) studies the boundary work of professionals and managers while Lamont (2000) examines how workers in the United States and France define worthy people in opposition to the poor, "people above", blacks, and immigrants, drawing moral boundaries toward different groups across the two national context. Lichterman (1999) explores how volunteers define their bonds and boundaries of solidarity by examining how they articulate their identity around various groups. He stresses that these mappings translate into different kinds of group responsibility, in "constraining and enabling what members can say and do together." Binder (1999) analyzes boundaries that proponents of Afrocentrism and multiculturalism build in relation to one another in conflict within the educational system. Becker (1999) studies how religious communities build boundaries between themselves and "the public." Finally Gamson (1992) analyzes how the injustice frames used in social movements are organized around "us" and "them" oppositions.
Dear Emily, I think that the concept of boundary work was proposed originally by Gieryn in the early eighties to designate "the discursive attribution of selected qualities to scientists, scientific methods, and scientific claims for the purpose of drawing a rhetorical boundary between science and some less authoritative residual non-science. In recent years, sociologists have become interested in analyzing this process by looking at self-definitions of ordinary people, while paying particular attention to the salience of various racial and class groups in boundary work. For instance, Newman (1999) analyzes how poor fast-food workers define themselves in opposition to the unemployed poor. Lamont (1992) studies the boundary work of professionals and managers while Lamont (2000) examines how workers in the United States and France define worthy people in opposition to the poor, "people above", blacks, and immigrants, drawing moral boundaries toward different groups across the two national context. Lichterman (1999) explores how volunteers define their bonds and boundaries of solidarity by examining how they articulate their identity around various groups. He stresses that these mappings translate into different kinds of group responsibility, in "constraining and enabling what members can say and do together." Binder (1999) analyzes boundaries that proponents of Afrocentrism and multiculturalism build in relation to one another in conflict within the educational system. Becker (1999) studies how religious communities build boundaries between themselves and "the public." Finally Gamson (1992) analyzes how the injustice frames used in social movements are organized around "us" and "them" oppositions.
Erith Jaffe-Berg in "Commedia dell' arte and the Mediterranean: charting journeys and mapping 'others' (1971 Published Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2015) refers to stage characters within Commedia dell'Arte as embodying the idea of "border-zone", and hence performatively embodying cultural crossovers and exchanges within the Renaissance Mediterranean area. This may be a way of culturally interrogating specific roles in drama.
Dear Emily, Shoaib has discuss the issue in detail, I would suggest an other article, if you can get access to it, it may not be very relevant but will atleast provide another insight. Here is the reference to the article.
Allen, Barbara L. 2004. Shifting Boundary Work: Issues and Tensions in
Environmental Health Science in the Case of Grand Bois, Louisiana.
Science as Culture 13 (4), 429-448.
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