Symbolic boundaries

Symbolic boundaries are distinctions created by social actors to categorize objects, people, practices, time and space. They are categories by which individuals and groups struggle over definitions of reality. Symbolic boundaries also separate people into groups and generate feelings of similarity and group membership. They are an essential medium through which people acquire status and monopolize resources. The literature on symbolic boundaries has gained importance since the sixties due to a convergence between research on symbolic systems and indirect forms of power. Writings by Émile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Mary Douglas, Norbert Elias, Michele Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michèle Lamont on this topic have influenced several disciplines at an international level, particularly anthropology, history, literary studies, and sociology.