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Cultural identity positive effects
Relationship between culture and identity
Culture and identity ethnicity
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We can define an ethnic group as a social group that has a common cultural tradition, common history, and common sense of identity and which exists as a subgroup in a larger society. By implication, the members of an ethnic group differ with regard to certain cultural characteristics from other members of their broader society. The ethnic group may have its own language, religion, and other distinctive cultural customs.
Extremely important to the members of an ethnic group is their (positive) feeling of identity as a traditionally distinct social group. The term is usually, but not always, applied to minority groups. Ethnic groups should not be confused with, or taken as synonymous with, racial groups, although it is possible for an ethnic group to be a racial group as well (for example, African Americans). The concept of ethnicity is a complex process with multiple stages and multiple outcomes. It begins with contact, when newcomer ethnic groups arrive but try to maintain their old culture and identity - perhaps as a means of survival, or a means of living their lives in a familiar way because that is what they are comfortable with. They may seek out areas to live and work where they can develop a network of friends with the same value systems.
Through acculturation ethnic identities emerge amid greater exposure to the larger society and culture. Adaptation sees the group trying to maintain its ethnic identity but slowly giving way to the dominant culture. The decreasing number of foreign-born members of the group are accommodated and gradually integrated, finally being assimilated into "mainstream" society and culture. Ethnically based cultural traditions manifest in daily life, but especially on significant occasions such as weddings, births, religious festivals, and deaths. Many ethnic groups are financially disadvantaged and/or suffer other forms of prejudice.
Categorizing individuals in societies can be achieved in a number of ways ranging from a subjective approach (where individuals are asked to decide their own groupings) to more objective approaches based on factors such as lifestyle, income, etc. The aim of the traditional marketing approach is to model the structure of different classes or groups because these are ways of determining (predicting) buyer behavior. In practice, however, marketing place models are more complex and, for some businesses and services, social class or income alone may be a more important discriminator than ethnicity. For others, such as low-interest loans for example, ethnic grouping may be more important, where the lender benefits from shared equity growth or insurance premium cover.
276). Curtin’s Coculturation (2010) combats this hegemonic discourse by stating, “everyone is continually engaged in social and political processes of identification” (p. 283). Thus, one’s identity can consist of multiple cultures and they can in fact coincide. The idea that one group “belongs” in a particular imagined community is a myth, there is no single response or adaption. The theory of Coculturation ultimately accommodates to a more realistic approach to cultural adjustment where a newcomer can adopt some behavior of the host culture while still maintaining the conciliatory and subconscious aspects of their native
Ethnic identity is the sum total of group member feelings about those values, symbols, and common histories that identify them as a distinct group (Smith 1991). Development of ethnic identity is important because it helps one to come to terms with their ethnic membership as a prominent reference group and significant part of an individuals overall identity. Ethnic reference group refers to an individuals psychological relatedness to groups (Smith 1991). These reference groups help adolescents sense, reflect and see things from the point of their ethnic groups in which they actively participate or seek to participate.
As defined by Cornell and Hartmann ethnicity is “a collectivity within a larger society having real or putative common ancestry,
According to most, ethnicity usually is displayed in the values, attitudes, lifestyles, customs, rituals, and personality types of individuals who identify with particular ethnic groups. Ethnic identifications and memberships in an ethnic group has farreaching effects on both groups and individuals, controlling assess to opportunities in life, feeling of well being and mastery over the futures of one's child and future. These feelings of belonging and attachment to a certain group of people for whatever reason are a basic feature of the human condition. These ties are called "ethnic ties" and the group of people that one is tied to is an "ethnic group." In the general sense, an ethnic group consists of those who share a unique social and cultural heritage that is passed on from generation to generation.
An ethnic minority is a group of people who differ in race or color or in national, religious, or cultural origin from the dominant group—often the majority population—of the country in which they live. The different identity of an ethnic minority may be displayed in any number of ways, ranging from distinctive customs, lifestyles, language or accent, dress, and food preferences to particular attitudes, moral values, and economic or political beliefs espoused by members of the group. Characteristically the minority is recognized, but it is not necessarily accepted by the larger society in which its members live. The nature of the relationship of the ethnic minority to the larger society will tend to determine whether the minority group will move in the direction of assimilation in the larger society or toward self-segregation. In some cases ethnic minorities have been simply excluded by the majority, a striking example being African Americans in the American South during the late-19th and 20th centuries.
More focus into the ethnic groups is just another racial grouping on a different perspective. The increased competition for ethnic identity among ethnic groups is posing as a rediscovery of racial groups, in which ethnic groups are termed as majority or minority groups. However, the shift to ethnic group has shaped some characteristics of individuals that were previously coined in social differentiation according to race. One of the noticeable individual features that have been shaped is the aspect of mutual and collective interests, in which every member strives to protect common interests of the group e.g. human rights. I believe that racial and ethnic groups are things that will continue to exist from our past historical experiences. We can together wipe out the problem of discrimination and injustices based on ethnicity and racial differences, if we all strive towards cherishing social consciousness for one another as a one human race and freeing ourselves from the trappings of our racial and ethnic
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
People who have distinctive physical and cultural characteristics are a racial ethnic group. This refers to people who identify with a common national origin or cultural heritage. But remember that race refers to the physical characteristics with which we are born. Whereas ethnicity describes cultural characteristics that we learn.
An ethnicity means that you belong to a group that has cultural distinctions (Kottak, 2015). An African American would fall under as an ethnic group but could also fall under as a representative for the nation and their nationality would be of the United States. This makes the three ethnicity, nation and nationality definitions similar but not necessarily the same. A majorities or minorities identity will separate them in the country but abroad they will be American and from the United States. The ancestral heritage will not disappear but will demission
Ethnicity has long been a cultural separator and gap closer for many generations. From the civil rights and black movements of the past and currently today, to the American Indians reservations and concentration camps of Japanese Americans during World War II. The American people and government are consistently fighting back and forth to try and right some sort of wrong that each party is consistently doing. George M. Fredrickson’s essay, Models of American Relations: A Historical Perspective (Fredrickson), talks about and explains how ethnic groups have been defining themselves for years or how the governments that they live under have been defining them as well. Ethnic groups have been defined and re-defined many different times throughout
And ethnic group is a category of people (within social terms) who have a common culture, language religion and common norms and values. In Britain the main ethnicity is white however in the past 50 years Britain has become culturally diverse and now has a mix of diverse ethnic groups (sociologyencyclopedia 2009).
?A definition of race might rely on an outward manifestation such as color or some other physiological sign. Race and ethnicity (and to some degree nationality) also imply a shared socio-cultural heritage and belief system. Finally, race and ethnicity harbor a physiological self-identification. Indeed, this factor is perhaps the most important in defining the identity of an ?ethnic? or ?racial? individual. It implies a conscious desire on the part of a person to belong to an aggregate of people, which possesses unique cultural characteristics, rituals and manners and a unique value system.
In the United States, “ethnics” came to be used at around Second World War as a polite way of referring to the Jews, Italian, Irish, and other people considered inferior to the dominant group of largely British descent. Since the 1960s, ethnic groups and ethnicity have become household words in English-speaking social anthropology[2]. In everyday language, the word ethnicity still has a ring of minority issues and race relations to it.
Times are changing and I feel like I am forced to conform to the everyday social norms of America, which makes me feel impuissance. Racial identity, which refers to identifying with a social group with similar phenotypes and racial category, is the only experience that I have with life (Organista, 2010). Racial ethnicity was used to build my self-esteem and to keep me in the dark when it came to how society treats individuals of darker complexion. However, once I left the confines of my family and neighborhood, I was forced to befriend and interact with individuals that had different cultural values and beliefs than me. This experience caused me to learn how to appreciate other racial and ethnic groups and their cultural values and belief. This is an accurate definition, of acculturation because I was able to understand and fit in with individuals different from me, while maintaining my own culture and ethnic identity. Therefore, knowing the importance of my ancestry, while acculturating and developing my own identity was all used
Race, often defined as groups of people who share similar and different biological traits, is commonly tied in with ethnicity. Ethnicity is the cultural traits that are shared amongst a group of people. This two social construct is the basis of mankind yet there is still a growing problem with race and ethnicity in today’s society. This can be seen through racism and ethnic discrimination.