Ethnicity Socially Constructed Essay

Ethnicity; a form of classification that’s primary focus is birth place, but is nonetheless based upon all aspects of social background including national identity, language, and in broader terms, sharing essential cultural values. Although, the prospects for which it is based upon are objective facts, in this essay we will be critically analysing: to what extent is ethnicity socially constructed? In order to answer the question, we will look what is a social construct; how’s and why’s ethnicity is constructed, and thus evaluate the importance of ethnicity.
First and foremost, we consider the phrase of “social construct”; it is clearly evident that it illustrates a negative perception of the notion of ethnicity as the connotations around “construct” suggest it to be work of make-belief. Although to some extent, it is valid that it is not something that is substantially true nor “independently existent” (lectures) in itself, it should not be used to disrepute the significance of the subject. Granted it is a “construct”, philosophically speaking, it is an idea that has substantial effects on people’s lives, and thus is just as real and existent as anything …show more content…
He theorised that ethnic group is not something that is fundamental to the notion of a human being, rather that it is created in opposition to another group, highlighting an important feature of the human brain, which functions as differential calculator. He put forward the idea that if all societies were sharing the same core ethics, the diversity of values would not persist, subsequently there would be no need for the differentiation of ethnic units. The idea of ethnic units only truly becomes relevant when encountering someone different in behaviour for the purpose for identification. (Barth, F.