What is Ethnicity? - Lecture Flashcards

Ethnicity (Mass / Count Noun): The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
Ethnic (Adjective):
- Of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.
- Being a member of a specified ethnic group (e.g., an ethnic German).
- Of, relating to, or characteristic of a minority ethnic group (e.g., ethnic foods, ethnic neighborhoods).
- Historically defined as relating to Gentiles or nations not converted to Christianity (heathen, pagan).

Belief in Shared Descent: Derived from a shared origin, geographic/ancestral heritage, and distinguishable customs or common bonds.
Common Culture: Encompasses shared values, beliefs, practices, customs, food, language, and religion.

Social Construction: Ethnicity is socially constructed rather than biological.
Origins in Migration:
- Heterogeneity develops through social distinctions.
- Ethnic distinctions are reinforced by competition over scarce resources.

Defining Characteristics: Race centers on physical phenotype, whereas ethnicity centers on culture.
Ascription vs. Agency: Race is externally ascribed, while ethnicity involves individual agency and self-identification.
Single vs. Multiplicity: Race generally assigns an individual to a single category, whereas ethnicity permits multiplicity.
Immutability vs. Flexibility: Race is treated as immutable, whereas ethnicity exhibits flexibility.

Definition: A process in which national origin distinctions and similarities are homogenized into a broader categorical, cultural, or cognitive umbrella group.
Linked Fate: A cognitive perception where individual well-being is tied to the collective standing of the panethnic group.
Origins: Originates from scientific taxonomy and government census classifications.
Reasons for Acceptance:
- Enhances capacity for collective action.
- Delivers strategic political, economic, and social benefits.