ABSTRACT
What makes ethnicity an initially more relevant concept in the present analysis than say, class, is its empirically pervasive nature: ethnicity can be seen as an aspect of most of the social statuses of a Mauritian individual. A few brief, general examples indicating the ethnic aspect of labour organ-isation will give a preliminary notion of the relationship between ethnicity and work. The changes in the Mauritian economy, from total dependence on sugar to a greater diversity, have led to a perceptible change in the principles of recruitment to the labour market; and, as will later be indicated, the consequences for ethnicity are profound. The individual examples that follow illustrate the direct relationship between occupational strategies and ethnic membership, and also reveals some of the hierarchical dimensions of ethnic organisation in Mauritius. In this way, it becomes clear that political ethnicity, far from being fundamental, is a secondary phenomenon dependent on the reproduction of ethnic categorisation at the local level.
