Ethnicity as an Organisational Concept in the Life of the Community

Abstract

In this paper we explore ethnicity as a basic organisational concept in the life of the Greek-Australian communities. We begin our discussion by outlining two conceptions of ethnicity that we call static and dynamic. We explain the ways in which these conceptions have respectively informed two types of community organisation that have been influential in the life of the communities. These are the Greek Orthodox Communities and the Greek workers leagues that have operated in Australian cities for most of the twentieth century. In our discussion we explain the strengths and limits of the concept of ethnicity for organisational purposes, through an analysis of its uses as the basis of members’ organisational unity.