Ethnicity and ethnic groups

Abstract

ethnicity is usually taken to represent a self-claimed identity linked to a perception of some combination of common history, origins or customs and possibly religion shared with those of the same ethnicity. There is an extensive literature discussing the meaning and use of the terminology of ethnicity and ethnic group, and both its distinctiveness from and overlap with the terminology of ‘race’ and of national identity. See, for example, Smith (1991), Ratcliffe (1994), Banton (1997, 1998), Cornell and Hartmann (1998) and Mason (2000). Here, I do not attempt to consider these issues in detail, but simply to outline some core points of concern to this review. An ethnic group is, theoretically, one where the association with both a particular origin and specific customs is adopted by people themselves to establish a shared identity. Weber (1978) defined an ethnic group in the following terms: We shall call ‘ethnic groups’ 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 the propagation of group formation; conversely, it does not matter whether or not an objective blood relationship exists. (Weber, 1978, p 389) The main elements of this definition, the notion of shared history and belonging and the fact that connections do not have to be based in objective fact (see also Anderson, 1991), have been subsequently taken up in more recent discussions of the meaning of ethnicity and ethnic group. However, in subsequent work the importance of shared religion as frequently a core element in ethnic identification has sometimes been highlighted.