Symbolic boundary work

Social actors construct symbolic boundaries to categorize people, relationships, social practices, and objects. Symbolic boundaries may be used by individuals to distinguish themselves from members of other social groups or to distinguish themselves from members of their own social group with whom they do not want to be associated.

Steinbugler argues that racework is a form of symbolic boundary work.

She defines racework as the routine actions and strategies through which individuals maintain close relationships across lines of racial stratification.

For Steinbugler, boundary work for interracial couples involves creating interracial identities that allow these couples to separate themselves from others' perceptions of them as deviant.

Steinbugler theorizes two types of boundary work used by interracial couples:

1) Exclusionary boundary work: involves partners distancing themselves symbolically from stereotypes associated with interracial intimacy or emphasizing the normalcy of their relationship and downplaying the role of race (e.g., using colorblind language).

2) Inclusionary boundary work: involves partners downplaying or attempting to blur distinctions between themselves and same-race couples (e.g., “we are just a man and a woman in love”).