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Ethnicity

An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people who collectively believe to have shared attributes
and later, become distinct through long-term endogamy.[1] Attributes that ethnicities believe to share
include language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history or social
treatment.[2][3] Ethnicities may also have a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, with some
groups having mixed genetic ancestry.[4][5][6] Ethnicity is sometimes used interchangeably with
nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism. It is also used interchangeably with race although
not all ethnicities identify as racial groups.[7][1]

By way of assimilation, acculturation, amalgamation, language shift, intermarriage, 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. Conversely, formerly
separate ethnicities can merge to form a panethnicity and may eventually merge into one single
ethnicity. Whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is
referred to as ethnogenesis.

Two theories exist in understanding ethnicities, mainly primordialism and constructivism. Early-
20th-century primordialists viewed ethnic groups as real phenomena whose distinct characteristics
have endured since the distant past.[8] Perspectives that developed after the 1960s increasingly
viewed ethnic groups as social constructs, with identity assigned by societal rules.[9]

Terminology
The term ethnic is ultimately derived from the Greek ethnos, through its adjectival form ethnikos,[10]
loaned into Latin as ethnicus. The inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used
alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period.

In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan
(in the sense of disparate "nations" which did not yet participate in the Christian ecumene), as the
Septuagint used ta ethne 'the nations' to translate the Hebrew goyim "the foreign nations, non-
Hebrews, non-Jews".[11] The Greek term in early antiquity (Homeric Greek) could refer to any large
group, a host of men, a band of comrades as well as a swarm or flock of animals. In Classical Greek,
the word took on a meaning comparable to the concept now expressed by "ethnic group", mostly
translated as "nation, tribe, a unique people group"; only in Hellenistic Greek did the term tend to
become further narrowed to refer to "foreign" or "barbarous" nations in particular (whence the later
meaning "heathen, pagan").[12]

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In the 19th century the term came to be used in the sense of "peculiar to a tribe, race, people or
nation", in a return to the original Greek meaning. The sense of "different cultural groups", and in
American English "tribal, racial, cultural or national minority group" arises in the 1930s to 1940s,[13]
serving as a replacement of the term race which had earlier taken this sense but was now becoming
deprecated due to its association with ideological racism. The abstract ethnicity had been used as a
stand-in for "paganism" in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an "ethnic
character" (first recorded 1953).

The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in
1972.[14] Depending on context, the term nationality may be used either synonymously with ethnicity
or synonymously with citizenship (in a sovereign state). The process that results in emergence of an
ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, a term in use in ethnological literature since about 1950. The term
may also be used with the connotation of something unique and unusually exotic (cf. "an ethnic
restaurant", etc.), generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the
dominant population of an area was established.

Depending on which source of group identity is emphasized to define membership, the following
types of (often mutually overlapping) groups can be identified:

Ethno-linguistic, emphasizing shared language, dialect (and possibly script) – example: French
Canadians
Ethno-national, emphasizing a shared polity or sense of national identity – example: Austrians
Ethno-racial, emphasizing shared physical appearance based on phenotype – example: African
Americans
Ethno-regional, emphasizing a distinct local sense of belonging stemming from relative
geographic isolation – example: South Islanders of New Zealand
Ethno-religious, emphasizing shared affiliation with a particular religion, denomination or sect –
example: Mormons, Sikhs
Ethno-cultural, emphasizing shared culture or tradition, often overlapping with other forms of
ethnicity – example: Travellers
In many cases, more than one aspect determines membership: for instance, Armenian ethnicity can
be defined by Armenian citizenship, having Armenian heritage, native use of the Armenian language,
or membership of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Definitions and conceptual history

Ethnography begins in classical antiquity; after early authors like Anaximander and Hecataeus of
Miletus, Herodotus laid the foundation of both historiography and ethnography of the ancient world
c. 480 BC. The Greeks had developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the
name of Hellenes. Although there were exceptions, such as Macedonia, which was ruled by nobility in
a way that was not typically Greek, and Sparta, which had an unusual ruling class, the ancient Greeks
generally enslaved only non-Greeks due to their strong belief in ethnic nationalism.[16][17] The Greeks
sometimes believed that even their lowest citizens were superior to any barbarian. In his Politics 1.2–
7; 3.14, Aristotle even described barbarians as natural slaves in contrast to the Greeks. Herodotus
(8.144.2) gave a famous account of what defined Greek (Hellenic) ethnic identity in his day,
enumerating
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1. shared descent (Greek: ὅμαιμον – homaimon, "of the

same blood"),[18][19][20]
2. shared language (Greek: ὁμόγλωσσον – homoglōsson,
"speaking the same language"),[21]
3. shared sanctuaries and sacrifices (Greek: θεῶν ἱδρύματά
τε κοινὰ καὶ θυσίαι – theōn hidrumata te koina kai
thusiai),[22]
4. shared customs (Greek: ἤθεα ὁμότροπα – ēthea
homotropa, "customs of like fashion").[19][20][23][24][25]
A group of ethnic Bengalis in Dhaka,
However, earlier Greek individuals did not define the Greek
Bangladesh. The Bengalis form the third-
ethnicity by blood. According to Isocrates in his speech largest ethnic group in the world after the
Panegyricus: "And so far has our city distanced the rest of Han Chinese and Arabs.[15]
mankind in thought and in speech that her pupils have
become the teachers of the rest of the world; and she has
brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a
race but an intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied
rather to those who share our culture than to those who share
a common blood".[26]

Whether ethnicity qualifies as a cultural universal is to some

extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social
scientists,[27] such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric The Javanese people of Indonesia are
Wolf, do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They the largest Austronesian ethnic group.
regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group
interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to
human groups.[28]

According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates
until recently.

One is between "primordialism" and "instrumentalism". In the primordialist view, the participant
perceives ethnic ties collectively, as an externally given, even coercive, social bond.[29] Ethnicities
are also perceived as being organically formed over time through long-term endogamy or
attachment to cultural objects, or a combination of both.[1]The instrumentalist approach, on the
other hand, treats ethnicity primarily as an ad hoc element of a political strategy, used as a
resource for interest groups for achieving secondary goals such as, for instance, an increase in
wealth, power, or status.[30][31] This debate is still an important point of reference in Political
science, although most scholars' approaches fall between the two poles.[32]
The second debate is between "constructivism" and "essentialism". Constructivists view national
and ethnic identities as the product of historical forces, often recent, even when the identities are
presented as old.[33][34] Essentialists view such identities as ontological categories defining social
actors.[35][36]
According to Eriksen these debates have been superseded, especially in anthropology, by scholars'
attempts to respond to increasingly politicized forms of self-representation by members of different
ethnic groups and nations. This is in the context of debates over multiculturalism in countries, such as
the United States and Canada, which have large immigrant populations from many different cultures,
and post-colonialism in the Caribbean and South Asia.[37]
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