CASE REPORT
Cultural boundaries
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University of Vaasa
School of Management, Philosophy
Publication date: 2020-05-18
Corresponding author
Tommi Lehtonen
University of Vaasa, School of Management, Philosophy, Yliopistonranta 10, 65200 Vaasa,
Fabriikki F339; author’s email address: Tommi.Lehtonen@uwasa.fi
Problemy Polityki Społecznej 2019;46:43-60
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper seeks to resolve the problem of redefining cultural boundaries. Therefore, the
following questions are addressed: 1) To what do cultural boundaries refer, and of what
do they basically consist? 2) On what conditions and to what extent is the metaphor of
cultural boundaries appropriate? 3) On what conditions can cultural boundaries be broken
or crossed? These questions are examined based on a philosophical analysis that draws
from Dave Elder-Vass’s The Reality of Social Construction (2012) and Alasdair MacIntyre’s
Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (2003). As a major result, it is shown that the metaphor
of boundaries is an appropriate tool for cultural studies, insofar as it helps to explain why
different norms are followed in different cultures, and how cultural conflicts are related
to breaking of norms endorsed and enforced by different social groups. The metaphor of
boundaries fits this task, because with the help of it different cultures and social groups
can be structured and represented as distinct collective entities, yet with blurred and
changing borders, that can side, collide, and overlap with each other.
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