Ethnicity

Ali Irtiza

The Term Itself

The terms ethnicity & ethnic group derived from
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".
Ali Irtiza

 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.
Ali Irtiza

 Wallman (1977) 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 non-English-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.
Ali Irtiza

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 and Pakistan 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.
Ali Irtiza

Ethnicity and Race

The term 'race' has dubious descriptive value.
For some time it was common to divide humanity into four
main races, modern genetics tends not to speak of races due
to two principal reasons:
o There has always been so much interbreeding between human populations that no
fixed racial boundaries exist
o Distribution of hereditary physical traits does not follow clear boundaries. There is
often greater variation within a 'racial group than without.

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
Ali Irtiza

Ethnicity & Class

Ethnicity is relationship between groups whose members
consider themselves distinctive
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) - emphasizes
class struggle
Weber's views as social class, late developed into theories
of social stratification, combines several criteria such as
income, education, political 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.
Ali Irtiza