Primordial School - Stresses that race and ethnicity are fundamental building blocks of identity. Because of this, ethnic and racial conflict tend to be very intense. Group leaders find a following easiest by manipulating ethnic symbols. Ethnic identity is not fixed but it can vary or change over time as new symbols are introduced or manipulated by leaders. It is possible to establish political movements that go beyond race and identity if the focus is on common needs and interests.
Race is used to keep people from uniting on the basis of class.
Within the primordialist school one can fit ethnic nationalist movements, separatist movements, or race-based movements. Within the instrumentalist school there are the dominant-subordinate group model and the political economy model. Takaki fits into the instrumentalist school of thinking. His basic premise in A Different Mirror is that race and ethnicity have been used in America to prevent coalitions based on class that would challenge the inequitable structure of power. Takaki stresses competition over resources as the pillar of conflicts that are often described as racial or ethnic conflicts.