L'identité collective, mode sensible d'appréhension du monde

Abstract

What sociologists call ‘social link’ is not a problem of functionalist analysis, but is closely connected with the sensitiveness of the individual towards his social group, through the corresponding material context. So collective identities are not a problem of political structures or of economic positions, but a question of self reference of the group through its history and its representations, among which language (usual forms of speaking and not necessarily official language) and manners are more important than civic and legal considerations. These representations of identity are in fact an autonomous form of social knowledge.