Cultural Differences Between Ethnicity And Race

Decent Essays
Ethnicity and race refer to different things, but are often confused by many people. Races are groups of people who are identified by their physical traits. Your race is determined by your skin color; white, black, or brown. Ethnicity, however; refers to cultural traits. Your ethnicity is identified by your nationality, the language you speak, and the social groups you follow. Ethnicities sometimes clash together. An example of this can be found in Sudan. It is split into two groups: the north (Arabian Muslims) and the south (native Christians). The Muslims control the government and make laws that they believe in. The native Christians do not agree with these laws and therefore dream to control the government in the north. They each want

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Race does not have customs or globally learned behavior. Race can be used to describe other elements of biological and regional differences. For instance, you can be born Jewish (which is usually referred to as a religion), but it does not mean that you have embraced the Jewish customs or religious beliefs. In such cases, the same term can be used to describe either ethnicity or…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    he difference between race and ethnicity is that race is associated with biology whereas ethnicity is associated with culture. Race and ethnicity can obviously overlap, but they are distinct. For example, a bi-racial person would probably consider themselves as a member of a certain race, but, if they don't engage in any of the practices or customs of their ancestors, they might not identify with the ethnicity, but might instead consider themselves to be a member of their counterpart race. The United States is a unique country due to the convergence of multiple races within itself. Even though the people who live in the US bring with them their cultural identity from wherever they came from, it becomes influenced by American culture.…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Race Social Construct

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Pages

    It seems to me that the definition of race is widely agreed among sociologists to be physical characteristics that are shared among a group of people, such as skin color. Race is not grounded in biological fact, rather in humans’ perceptions of others, leading many to call race a social construct. In the same way gender has been constructed in our society, race has been primarily used to elevate one group to the superior position, and to place another in the subordinate. This definition is one I greatly agree with. Ethnicity, compared with race, is far more cultural in its definition.…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ethnicity relates to the learned cultural behaviors celebrated throughout regions around the world. Ethnically, I identify as Native American. This isn’t because I favor my Native ancestry over my Italian and other European heritage. It’s the result of my location and availability to practice culture. Throughout my upbringing, I was exposed to the racial groups that I belong to, but the reason I primarily identify as a Native American is because of my residence in Oklahoma.…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethnic Identity Stage

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the beginning, there was only Adam and Eve, one people and one identity. At the eleventh generation came Noah’s and that was when we saw the first signs of different people groups. The people all spoke one language on the earth and when they tried to build a tower to reach God, God humbled them by confusing their language so that they did not understand each other and was forced to abandon the project. People dispersed over the face of the earth and hence we saw the separation of people, the birth of different languages, cultures and most importantly people groups or what we now call ethnicity.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are multiple variations for defining race. There is one definition, however, that most people confine to which is race being a group of people who have different and similar biological traits. Commonly, race is defined as if it is a term that is solid or concrete, but really it is socially fabricated. In society, race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined by the most apparent trait; skin color. Although race is socially constructed, the biological sense that accounts for the physical differences within a person leads society to treat people differently.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shared Genealogy

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Biology is associated with race in the fact that we are genetically similar to species with very few genetic variations across the globe and determined by the way we look. The characteristics can distinguish race by the skin, hair, or eye color. Race is also made up of meaningful categories of people; meaning different groups of made up of people who decided they were important. Such as Caucasians, African Americans, and Latinos. Race refers to groups of people with similar physical features from similar genetic ancestry sharing transmitted traits.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Racism In The Prison System

    • 2622 Words
    • 11 Pages

    I aim to critically assess racism experienced and perpetuated by prisoners and staff. I will also look at the efforts that have been made to address it within the prison system. People often use both terms race and ethnicity. The difference is that race is biological, whereas ethnicity is social. "Ethnicity is used to describe social groups believed or perceived to differ from other social groups in terms of various possible characteristics including geographical origin, language, cultural traditions and religion, among many other things.…

    • 2622 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race vs. Ethnicity. Race can be de defined as a group of persons related by common descent or hereditary. Ethnicity can be defined as an ethnic group; a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion and language. Race and ethnicity have many similarities but also many differences, your race can sometimes narrow down your ethnicity and if you know what ethnicity you are, you definitely know your race. You can tell a person’s race just by their physical appearance, but ethnicity is so much more complex, you can see the color of a person’s skin but that does not really tell you much information of their ethnic background.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race and Gender Appiah argues that there is no metaphysical identity when it comes to race. The differences in skin colour should not be a reason that uses “race” as an identity. On the other hand, sex can be used as an individual’s identity. Sex is different from gender.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jobless Ghettos Analysis

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Race/ethnicity is a category of difference that greatly effects one’s position in society in the United States, especially for persons of color and even more specifically for people of Black or African American descent.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race And Ethnicity Essay

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages

    They are defined and maintained through interaction and they do not exist biologically. The creation of Race and Ethnicity are by society and social constructions. Sociologists see race and ethnicity as social constructions because they are not rooted…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Race and ethnicity are two important components that gives humans identity. Sometimes race and ethnicity can be confused to be same or used interchangeably. Race and ethnicity are connected, but they are distinct. Race is our biological classification. It is determined from our appearances such as our skin color, hair, nose shape, lip size and other physical characteristics.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race is associated with biology of human beings, whereas ethnicity is associated with the origin and culture. An individual coming into a society where his ethnicity and race is unfamiliar, an opportunity is open for both the individual and the population of that society to learn and get to know each other. It is imminent that the people of different racial backgrounds, especially multi-ethnic groups, will face all kinds of stereotypes when coming to a new society that is completely unfamiliar with the physical features, culture, traditions and world view of that ethnic group. However, that can be rectified with positive involvement and communication in different areas of that society. Individuals coming from various ethnic and racial backgrounds…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ethnicity is a characterization that is voluntary, embraced by group members, fluid, based on cultural differences, and nonhierarchal (Conley, 2015). People can belong to multiple ethnicities and one ethnicity isn’t better than another. Unlike ethnicity, race is a social construct that is used to create a social hierarchy. Race is based on power, it is involuntary, imposed on an individual by others, based on physical differences, and extremely hierarchal (Conley, 2015). People can only belong to one race, the race that the rest of society classifies them as.…

    • 1810 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays