From individual choice to collective actions: ethnic consciousness in Malaysia reconsidered

Abstract

Many scholars have contributed to a broad spectrum of explanation to understand Malaysians' ethnic consciousness. Some scholars engage the historical materialism approach. Other scholars use the social construction approach. There are also scholars who use both approaches to explain the phenomenon. This paper intends to reconsider all these approaches and propose an approach that will explain Malaysians' ethnic consciousness more concisely. In order to do so, eight focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in Malaysian public universities. The FGDs were conducted to investigate the Malaysian Malay and Chinese students' interpretations concerning their ethnic consciousness. Judging from the outcomes of the FGDs, the social construction or the ‘bottom-up’ approach emerged as the more concise analytical method with which to analyse the nature of students' ethnic consciousness.

Keywords:

• ethnic consciousness
• ethnic boundary
• ethnic identity
• ethnic relations
• ethnic polarization
• ethnic solidarity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chin Yee Mun

CHIN YEE MUN is Senior Lecturer in the Department of General Studies, Faculty of Creative Industries at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Lee Yok Fee

LEE YOK FEE is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civilization and Government Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Jayum Jawan

JAYUM JAWAN is Professor in the Department of Civilization and Government Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Sarjit Singh Darshan

SARJIT SINGH DARSHAN is Associate Professor in the Department of Civilization and Government Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology at Universiti Putra Malaysia.