Racial and Ethnic Groups

Race

biological and physical characteristics

Race entails:

-treated differently based on the color of one’s skin

-defined by the “outsiders” of the group

Ethnicity

social and cultural characteristics

Ethnicity entails:

-learned

-defined by the “insiders” of the group

Social Construction

meanings based on one’s interpretation

Social Construction entails:

-social and cultural definitions

-ethnicity is a social construction

-varies in time and place (both race and ethnicity)

One’s race may be different from their

ethnicity

class example

I’m Latina vs. I’m Brazilian; Filling out forms and checking boxes; lighter skins color determines treatment (Indians vs. Russians); variations in empandadas/food→”Hispanic” food?; American is an ethnicity (learned)