"An ethnicity or ethnic group is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups."
This topic covers the basic definition, concept, and characteristics of ethnicity as a social construct.
Ethnicity: An Introduction: This topic provides an overview of ethnicity, including its definition, components, and significance in different contexts.
Race vs. Ethnicity: This topic explores the differences between race and ethnicity and their relationship to social identity.
Ethnic Identity: This topic discusses the formation and development of ethnic identity and its impact on individual and group behavior.
Culture and Ethnicity: This topic explores the relationship between culture and ethnicity, including their shared components and the ways in which they influence each other.
Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism: This topic examines the role of ethnicity in conflicts and wars, as well as the relationship between ethnicity and nationalism.
Ethnicity and Discrimination: This topic discusses the ways in which ethnicity can lead to discrimination and inequality, as well as strategies for combating such discrimination.
Ethnicity and Migration: This topic explores the role of ethnicity in migration patterns, including the factors that influence migration and the impacts of migration on ethnic communities.
Ethnicity and Politics: This topic examines the role of ethnicity in political processes, including electoral politics, government policies, and social movements.
Ethnicity and Social Change: This topic discusses the ways in which ethnicity can contribute to social change, including through grassroots organizing, cultural revitalization, and political mobilization.
Ethnicity and Globalization: This topic explores the relationship between ethnicity and globalization, including the impacts of global cultural flows on ethnic communities and the emergence of new forms of global ethnic identity.
Essentialist Definition: This definition sees ethnicity as an inherent, fixed and unchanging characteristic of a group of people. It regards ethnicity as biologically, culturally or historically determined.
Constructivist Definition: This definition sees ethnicity as a socially constructed identity. It acknowledges the role that societal and political factors play in the formation and expression of ethnic identity.
Functional Definition: This definition views ethnicity as a means of social organization. It looks at the ways in which ethnic groups function within a larger society.
Symbolic Definition: This definition sees ethnicity as a set of symbolic markers that provide individuals with an identity. It considers ethnicity as a form of cultural expression and identity construction.
Primordial Definition: This definition asserts that ethnicity is an innate and ancient aspect of human identity. It sees ethnic identity as rooted in historical and cultural traditions.
Cultural Definition: This definition looks at ethnicity as a shared culture that includes language, customs, beliefs, and practices. It emphasizes the importance of cultural heritage in the creation of ethnic identity.
Structuralist Definition: This definition views ethnicity as a product of social structures and power relationships. It emphasizes the role that hierarchies and social inequalities play in the formation and persistence of ethnic identity.
Intersectional Definition: This definition acknowledges that ethnicity intersects with other social categories like gender, class, and sexuality. It stresses that the experience of ethnicity is complex and multi-dimensional.
Historical Definition: This definition regards ethnicity as a product of historical processes and events. It emphasizes the role of colonialism, migration, and globalization in shaping ethnic identity.
Transnational Definition: This definition considers ethnicity as a fluid identity that transcends national boundaries. It looks at the ways in which ethnic groups interact across borders and maintain transnational networks.
"Those attributes can include a common nation of origin, or common sets of ancestry, traditions, language, history, society, religion, or social treatment."
"The term ethnicity is often used interchangeably with the term nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism."
"Ethnicity may be construed as an inherited or societally imposed construct."
"Ethnic membership tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language, dialect, religion, mythology, folklore, ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, or physical appearance."
"By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption, and religious conversion, individuals or groups may over time shift from one ethnic group to another."
"Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tribes, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from the parent group."
"Formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity and may eventually merge into one single ethnicity."
"The formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis."
"Earlier 20th-century 'Primordialists' viewed ethnic groups as real phenomena whose distinct characteristics have endured since the distant past." "Perspectives that developed after the 1960s increasingly viewed ethnic groups as social constructs, with identity assigned by societal rules."
"Ethnic groups may share a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, depending on group identification, with many groups having mixed genetic ancestry."
"Ancestry, traditions, language, history, society, religion, or social treatment."
"Language shift, acculturation, adoption, and religious conversion" can lead to shifts in ethnic identity.
"Mythology, folklore, ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, or physical appearance."
"Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tribes."
"Endogamy or physical isolation from the parent group."
"Formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity."
"Whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis."
"Earlier 20th-century 'Primordialists' viewed ethnic groups as real phenomena whose distinct characteristics have endured since the distant past." "Perspectives that developed after the 1960s increasingly viewed ethnic groups as social constructs."
"Identity assigned by societal rules."