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exclusion theory

(20th century)

Also referred to as social closure theory.

Groups maximize their own benefits by excluding non-members. At the same time they establish their identity as much by excluding non-members as by defining the characteristics of membership. Identity thus depends on the identification of 'outsiders' or 'enemies'.

Source:
Frank Parkin, Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique (London, 1979)

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