TY - JOUR
T1 - Cacophony in conceptualizing and operationalizing ethnicity
T2 - the case of Roma in Hungary
AU - Messing, Vera
AU - Pap, András L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024/4/3
Y1 - 2024/4/3
N2 - Using secondary research from the political, education, and employment fields, this paper aims to demonstrate the consequences of confused and overlapping conceptualizations of the Roma in Hungary as an ethnic group, a racialized minority, a national minority, and a socially disadvantaged group. The resulting cacophony of operationalizing schemes blurs clarity and constrains efficient measures for inclusion policies. In social sciences and law, the purpose of classification is to help us understand the internal logic of concepts. Thus, classification has significant consequences, as it can imperil policy goals. Through examining the case of the Hungarian Roma, the article demonstrates how the confused conceptualization of ethnicity, race, and nationality and ill-applied methods of operationalization have vastly detrimental consequences. In addition, it is argued that many concerns regarding ethnic data processing that policy actors voice are legally unfounded, and pre-existing data protection regimes allow the processing of ethno-racial data.
AB - Using secondary research from the political, education, and employment fields, this paper aims to demonstrate the consequences of confused and overlapping conceptualizations of the Roma in Hungary as an ethnic group, a racialized minority, a national minority, and a socially disadvantaged group. The resulting cacophony of operationalizing schemes blurs clarity and constrains efficient measures for inclusion policies. In social sciences and law, the purpose of classification is to help us understand the internal logic of concepts. Thus, classification has significant consequences, as it can imperil policy goals. Through examining the case of the Hungarian Roma, the article demonstrates how the confused conceptualization of ethnicity, race, and nationality and ill-applied methods of operationalization have vastly detrimental consequences. In addition, it is argued that many concerns regarding ethnic data processing that policy actors voice are legally unfounded, and pre-existing data protection regimes allow the processing of ethno-racial data.
KW - Hungary
KW - Roma
KW - categories of difference
KW - equality policies
KW - ethnic data protection
KW - minority politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187946469&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01419870.2024.2328327
DO - 10.1080/01419870.2024.2328327
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85187946469
SN - 0141-9870
VL - 47
SP - 1920
EP - 1940
JO - Ethnic and Racial Studies
JF - Ethnic and Racial Studies
IS - 9
ER -