Ethnic Categories Paper

608 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Differences between race and ethnicity essay

The subject of race can be a touchy subject to many people. How people see themselves versus how a society views where a person fits into racial categories is a complex subject that has no clear lines. There is a tendency to categorize a group people together into an ethnic group, no matter the culture of the people, based off of physical traits. Ethnic categories and ethnic collectivity can seem at first to be very similar, but while categories put people in groups based off of physical traits while ethnic collectivity is more fluid as who people are as well as commonality. The use of ethnic categories is used to classify people and can be seen on many times of government documents, surveys, and other. The intentions of using ethnic categories were for enforcing civil rights legislations (Marger, 2014). The issue with ethnic categories is that it is a very rough way of counting the population ethnically. Ethnic categories are a fluid concept, the common categories that are seen on many documents, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American/Alaskan Native, is limiting (Marger, 2014). …show more content…

Collective identities are fluid, meaning it can change over time depending on real or perceived attributes or experiences. African Americans are a prime example of ethnic collectivity. The African American ethnic collectivity is based off of their history of hard ship due to slavery, segregation, and civil rights issues as a common basis and is an important part of which African American’s see them as. Who or what a person is not a part of is also plays a part in shaping ethnic collectivity just as much as what does (Bull, A). Along with history, African American ethnic collectivity also includes food, language, ideology, exclusions, and in some cases religion (Bull,

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Tommie Shelby's We Who Are Dark

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    The question is whether or not this is helpful or detrimental to the black population. In “Promoting Black (Social) Identity” Laura Papish criticizes Tommie Shelby’s We Who Are Dark. Shelby argues that the black population’s sense of group identity is vital to furthering their collective political agenda. Shelby believes that the best way to make sure that their political ideologies are cohesive is for black individuals to have a “thick conception of black identity” (Papish 2).

    Read More

  • Racial Realism Essay

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    In America, essentially everyone is classified in terms of race in a way. We are all familiar with terms such as Caucasian, African-American, Asian, etc. Most Americans think of these terms as biological or natural classifications; meaning that all people of a certain race share similarities on their D.N.A. that are different and sets that particular race apart from all the other races. However, recent genetic studies show that there’s no scientific basis for the socially popular idea that race is a valid taxonomy of human biological difference. This means that humans are not divided into different groups through genetics or nature. Contrary to scientific studies, social beliefs are reflected through racial realism. Racial realists believe that being of a particular race does not only have phenotypical values (i.e. skin color, facial features, etc.), but also broadens its effects to moral, intellectual and spiritual characteristics.

    Read More

  • Individual And Collective Identity In Kwame Appiah's Racial Identities

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kwame Appiah, author of Racial Identities, explores the complexity between individual and collective identity. Throughout the text, Appiah attempts to define these complicated notions, noting their similarities and differences. He calls upon the ideas of other philosophers and authors to help formulate his own. Essentially, individual and collective identity are very much intertwined. Appiah argues that collective identities are very much related to behavior. There is not one particular way a certain ethnic group acts, but instead “modes of behavior (Appiah 127).” These behavioral acts provide loose norms or models. However, Appiah also notes that it is how individuals essentially make or allow these collective identities to become central

    Read More

  • Environmental Injustice Endured by the Native Americans

    2091 Words  | 5 Pages

    Schaefer, Richard, T. Racial and Ethnic Groups. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

    Read More

  • Race And Ethnicity Essay

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore it has become a source of division within the working class that only works in favor for the bourgeois and capitalist. On the there hand, Ethnicity has a wider concept than race but still can be useful and counterproductive. To begin, one obvious reason why ethnicity is useful because it allows for other cultures, customs to express themselves. Secondly, promotes multiculturalism and diversity. Be that as it may, it is counterproductive and overlapping because the systematic distinctions within ethnicity lead to equality and inequality in society Therefore resulting to racial supremacy and privilege. Given these points, in this paper, I will discuss in details the ways in which the concepts of race and ethnicity are useful and how they are counterproductive with regards to different authors; Peter Wade, Robert Milles, Etienne Balibar, David Nirebeng, Roman Grosfoguel and Joan

    Read More

  • Race: biological or cultural

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ethnic Hierarchy In The Movie Crash

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    which each ethnic diversified people come across each other in one way or another, not

    Read More

  • Race and Ethnicity: Their Powerful Influence on Society

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society is defined as people who live in a specific geographic territory, interact with one another, and share many elements of common culture. Within a society there are many components that make up that society. There is crime, culture, social class, gender, marriage and the family, religion, education, medicine and health care, the political order, etc. However, race and ethnicity has a great and powerful influence in society, and has for many years. On the reverse side, society also influences the different races and ethnicities of people. Race is defined as “a group of people who have been singled out on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics” (Curry, Jiobu, Schwirian 209). Ethnicity is defined as “common cultural characteristics

    Read More

  • Comparsion Of Kincaid's Girl And Walker's Everyday Use

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.

    Read More

  • Sociology Of Race And Ethnicity

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    In order to study the sociology of race and ethnicity it is important to know how to define them. First, race is inherited physical characteristics that distinguish one group from another. There are two myths about race, first, that one race is superior to another

    Read More

  • Racial Categories

    245 Words  | 1 Pages

    Personally, I believe the U.S. government should continue to categorize its populace into racial categories but keeping in mind that everyone are still human beings with different cultural backgrounds. These categories provide characteristics that identify each person within the society and in what culture groups these individuals belong to; therefore, the categories play a role in the community. The idea of emphasizing that race is real has some advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include being able to analyze the differences that shape who and how unique an individual is and the cultural practices that certain ones follow while others don’t. In contrast, the disadvantages involve an idea that contradicts the deeply held values and

    Read More

  • Race And Ethnicity Essay

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Race and ethnicity are two terms that are constantly used in today’s society. Understanding these terms can help people to recognize that color of skin or color of hair does not define a person. These terms connect with history, social interaction, and the overall make up of a person. However America is constantly obsessed with labeling people by the way that they look or the way that they act. America seems to encourage the terms race and ethnicity and continue to divide people into categories. It is interesting to comprehend these terms because they are not going to disappear any time soon. Race and ethnicity are apart of America’s history and will be a part of the future.

    Read More

  • Cultural Pluralism Essay

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, American society has been dealing with a diversity of ethnicities ranging from African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans for many years. In the beginning of America, there was distinguish hierarchical structure of ethnic group brought upon by de-facto segregation and de-jure segregation. However, in the turn of the mid twentieth century, America became unified under a principle of cultural pluralism. The abolishment of slavery, the desegregation of public facilities and intuitions, and the Equal Rights Act of 1964, which gave all minorities including women an equal opportunity, gave rise to the so-called “melting pot” of cultural, languages, and customs. In cultural pluralism, all the various ethnicities are unique in their own way, but not one ethnic group is higher than another. This notion of a hierarchy ethnic group has disappeared during the mist of the civil rights movement through the 1960s. Today,

    Read More

  • My Ethnic Identity Essay: This Is Who I Am

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    The oppression that African American individuals endured for years, is still being practice with racial discrimination and prejudice. One strength of identifying as African American is the increase of belongingness that gave me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. However, this was not always the case. Growing into an adult gave me the advantage to travel and meet other African Americans that I believed shared some of the same historical and ethnic background. In this time period I was introduced to what is called within-group differences, which is the differences among the members of a group (Organista, 2010). Wanting to be around individuals that I believed to have a common core with was one of my flaws, but while traveling with individuals that I thought was like me I experienced that I had nothing in common with some of my travel friends. One of my friends stated that we had nothing in common with each other, because of our different social economic status, education and employment. At first I was offended, however, after taking psychology of ethnic groups in the United States there was a sense of understanding that not all individuals that look alike, are alike. This assumption that all groups function

    Read More

  • Race Reflection Essay

    2041 Words  | 5 Pages

    When it comes to today’s society race plays a major role. When it comes to race many people believe that race is just the color you are. In fact race is defined by

    Read More

More about Ethnic Categories Paper

Open Document