Ethnicity

The Term Itself

The terms ethnicity and ethnic group are derived from the Greek word ethnos, from ethnikos, normally translated as "nation". The terms refers currently to people thought to have common ancestry who share a distinctive culture. Herodotus stated main characteristics of ethnicity in 5th century BCE, while defining Greek identity.
o Kinship (homaimon) "of the same blood" o Language (homoglosson) "speaking the same language" o Cults and Customs (homotropon) "of the same habits or life"

The term ethnic/related forms from the 14th through the middle of the 19th century used in English in the meaning of pagan, heathen The recent meaning emerged in the mid-19th century and expresses the notion of "a people" or "a nation".

 The term ethnicity is of 20th-century coinage, attested from the 1950s. The term nationality depending on context may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship (in a sovereign state). The modern usage of "ethnic group" further came to reflect the different kinds of encounters industrialised states have had with external groups, such as immigrants and indigenous peoples. "Ethnic" thus came to stand in opposition to "national", to refer to people with distinct cultural identities who, through migration or conquest, had become subject to a state or "nation" with a different cultural mainstream. In the US 'ethnics' came to be used around WW2 as a polite term referring to Jews, Italians, Irish and others considered inferior to the dominant group of largely British descent The first usage of the term ethnic group in 1935, ethnicity in 1953 (Riesman) and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972.

 Writing about the usage of the term " in the ordinary language of Great Britain and the US, in 1977 Wallman noted that: the term 'ethnic' popularly connotes '[race]' in Britain, only less precisely. In North America, by contrast, '[race]' most commonly means color, and 'ethnics' are the descendants of relatively recent immigrants from nonEnglish-speaking countries. 'Ethnic' is not a noun in Britain. In effect there are no 'ethnics'; there are only 'ethnic relations'. In social sciences the usage has become more generalized to all human groups that explicitly regard themselves and are regarded by others as culturally distinctive. Among the first to bring the term "ethnic group" into social studies was the German sociologist Max Weber, who defined it as: Those human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration; this belief must be important for group formation; furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists.

Nationality and Ethnicity

Nationality refers to our citizenship -- in other words, the nation we are a member of.

Ethnicity, or ethnic identity, refers to membership in a particular cultural group. It is defined by shared cultural practices, including but not limited to holidays, food, language, and customs. People can share the same nationality but have different ethnic groups. For example, citizens of the United States are of many different ethnic backgrounds.
People who share an ethnic identity can be of different nationalities. Turkish citizens of Turkey and Turkish citizens in Germany share an ethnic identity but are of different nationalities.

Ethnicity and Race

The term 'race' has dubious descriptive value. For some time it was comment to divide humanity into four main races, modern genetics tends not to speak of races due to two principal reasons: There has always been so much interbreeding between human populations that no fixed racial boundaries exist Distribution of hereditary physical traits does not follow clear boundaries. There is often greater variation within a 'racial'. Concept of race nevertheless is important to the extent that is informs people's actions - race exists as a cultural construct, with or without biological reality Due to myths and assumptions race may assume sociological importance even if it has no objective existence The object of study while studying races is usually the social & cultural importance of the notion that they exist Difference of opinion whether race & ethnicity should be studied together

Ethnicity & Class

Ethnicity - relationships between groups whose members consider themselves distinctive, and these groups may be ranked hierarchically within a society. Two main definitions of classes - Marx and Weber. Marxist view emphasis economic aspects; 3 classes are: bourgeoisie, petit-bourgeoisie, proletariat; (also aristocracy, comprador bourgeoisie, lumpenproletariat) - also emphasizes class struggle Weber's views as social class, late developed into theories of social stratification, combines several criteria such as income, education, poltical influence. Members of social classes do not necessarily have shared political interests. called them status groups rather than classes. Class and ethnicity are different, there may be correlations in polyethnic societies though.