Ethnic group
hideAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.
Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioural ,, as indicators of contrast to other groups.
Ethnicity is an important means through which people can identify themselves. According to "Challenges of Measuring an Ethnic World: Science, politics, and reality", a conference organised by Statistics Canada and the United States Census Bureau (April 1–3, 1992), "Ethnicity is a fundamental factor in human life: it is a phenomenon inherent in human experience." However, many social scientists, like anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf, do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. Processes that result in the emergence of such identification are called ethnogenesis. Members of an ethnic group, on the whole, claim cultural continuities over time. Historians and cultural anthropologists have documented, however, that often many of the values, practices, and norms that imply continuity with the past are of relatively recent invention.
According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, until recently the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates. One is between "primordialism" and "instrumentalism". In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as an externally given, even coercive, social bond. 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. This debate is still an important point of reference in Political science, although most scholars' approaches fall between the two poles.
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. Essentialists view such identities as ontological categories defining social actors, and not themselves the result of social action.
According to Eriksen, these debates have been superseded, especially in anthropology, by scholars' attempts to respond to increasingly politicised forms of self-representation by members of different ethnic groups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.
For more information about Ethnic group, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with ethnic groups
Ethnic pride may boost African-American teens' mental health
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 13, 2009 |
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Most adolescents who belong to an ethnic minority group wrestle not only with their self-esteem (like most teens), but also with identity issues unique to their ethnic group, such as dealing with social stigma. A new study ...
Search results for ethnic groups
Mammography use among women younger than 40 years old differ between minority populations
16 hours ago |
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Breast cancer screening guidelines generally recommend mammography begin at age 40. However, based on prior national research, an estimated 34 percent of non-Hispanic black women, 30 percent of non-Hispanic white women and ...
Experts: Colon cancer deaths could make big drop
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Colon cancer deaths could drop dramatically in the next decade because of better screening and treatment, according to an optimistic new prediction by top researchers.
Susceptibility predicts smoking risk among Mexican-American youth
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Whether non-smoking Mexican-American adolescents go on to experiment with smoking depends largely on their initial attitude toward the habit, researchers at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the December issue of Cancer Ep ...
Rural America more prosperous than expected
Dec 02, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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For many people "rural" is synonymous with low incomes, limited economic opportunity, and poor schools. However, a recent study at the University of Illinois found that much of rural America is actually prosperous, ...
Down Syndrome becoming more prevalent in the U.S.
Dec 02, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study, aimed at estimating the prevalence of Down Syndrome in newborns, children and teenagers in 10 areas of the U.S., has found an increase in prevalence of more than 30 percent over ...
Study Examines Racial 'Blind Spots' in Chicago Area Communities
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 30, 2009 |
3 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Racial residential segregation in the Chicago area may be perpetuated by a lack of knowledge of communities across racial lines, according to a new study led by a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher.
Against expectations, genetic variation does not alter asthma treatment response
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Studies have suggested that asthma patients with a specific genetic variation might not respond as well to certain treatments as those with a different variation. But a new study in this week's edition of ...
Diabetes surgery summit consensus lays foundation for new field of medicine
Nov 24, 2009 |
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A first-of-its-kind consensus statement on diabetes surgery is published online today in the Annals of Surgery. The report illustrates the findings of the first international consensus conference -- Diabetes Surgery Summit ...
Mother's depression a risk factor in childhood asthma symptoms, study suggests
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 19, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Maternal depression can worsen asthma symptoms in their children, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children's Center published online in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
How fish is cooked affects heart-health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids
Nov 17, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (10) |
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If you eat fish to gain the heart-health benefits of its omega-3 fatty acids, baked or boiled fish is better than fried, salted or dried, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions ...
List of search results for ethnic groups
