tokenpocket官方app|ethnicity和race

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2024-03-14 21:23:29

race 和 ethnicity该怎么区别? - 知乎

race 和 ethnicity该怎么区别? - 知乎首页知乎知学堂发现等你来答​切换模式登录/注册英语race 和 ethnicity该怎么区别?经常看到如果一段话里提到race,后面通常都会跟一个and ethnicity,它们的区别在哪儿?民族、种族?自我认知和外界标签?关注者36被浏览159,201关注问题​写回答​邀请回答​好问题 2​添加评论​分享​5 个回答默认排序May Wang若要了时当下了,若觅了时无了时。​ 关注这学期正好修了一门社会学课程,讲述美国移民历史下的种族理解,首先看牛津字典和社会学字典上的两个单词的定义EthnicityIndividuals who consider themselves, or are considered by others, to share common characteristics that differentiate them from the other collectivities in a society, and from which they develop their distinctive cultural behaviour, form an ethnic group. Race:each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics 简言之,Race应该翻译成种族,它是以“外表”来区别,正如我们常说的黄种人,白种人,黑种人。种族歧视主义的英文就为Racist 而Ethnicity应该定义成族群,它是以后天的”文化认同“来区别,由于共同的信仰,语言,文化习俗和历史背景而产生的归属感,是一种主观的自我认定而形成的。这两个词还会经常同Nation(民族)相联系。对于社会学了解还是比较浅显,如果有错误还希望有所指正。发布于 2013-11-14 10:19​赞同 95​​5 条评论​分享​收藏​喜欢收起​吴蜀春菩萨畏因,众生畏果。​ 关注工作的时候想到这个问题,给你看一个调查表里的划分吧。ethnicity下的选项分为:Hispanic or LatinoCentral AmericanCubanLatin AmericanDominicanMexicanPuerto RicanSouth AmericanSpaniardNot Hispanic or LatinoNot Applicablerace选项的划分为:American Indian or Alaska NativeAsianBlack or African AmericanNative Hawaiian or Other Pacific IslanderWhite发布于 2018-07-09 14:32​赞同 14​​2 条评论​分享​收藏​喜欢

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群体遗传学中种族使用上的区分 Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry - 知乎

群体遗传学中种族使用上的区分 Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry - 知乎首发于GWASLab切换模式写文章登录/注册群体遗传学中种族使用上的区分 Race/Ethnicity/AncestryGWASLabgwaslab.com 分享生物信息,统计遗传学学习心得。英文中的常用的表示种族的词语包括Race,Ethnicity以及Ancestry。但在中文中通常都翻译成种族。本文就这些词的使用区分做简单介绍与讨论。种族概念的区分首先介绍Population,这是一个最为广义的词语,可以用于表示任何一群体,可大可小。通常含义基于上下文,没有明确区分。例如,在中国人群中的全基因组关联分析就可以说成 GWAS in a Chinese population.Race, 种族(人种),是一个由社会构建的区分系统,但该系统基于对内在的生物学特征或差异错误的认知,典型的例子便是物理特征(诸如肤色)以及社会文化的特征。举例,种族歧视应当被消除。Ethnicity, 种族 (民族),是一个表示某一群体的社会政治概念, 通常有相连的地理位置,基于共同的遗产或相似文化,例如语言,宗教信仰等。举例,中国有五十六个民族,这个民族就是Ethnic group,汉族Han Chinese 就是一个Ethnic group。Ethnicity与Ancestry容易混淆的点在于,多数情况下Ethnicity所表示的群体通常情况下也会有共同的家系或是遗传继承,但有一些地区Ethnicity表示的仅为社会文化实体而没有遗传学基础。Ancestry, 种族 (族裔/祖先),是一个更为复杂的概念,包括了生物学以及社会学的成分。在西方,这个词通常反应群体的社会文化以及所来自大陆的起源,而在东方,以及南半球,这个词通常反映家系或是遗传继承。多数情况下,ancestry是群体遗传学文章中更应当使用的词语。举例,使用频率较高的有 European ancestry, East Asian ancestry, South Asian ancestry等等。举一个例子来综合上述概念,某研究组收集了中国人群的基因数据用于GWAS研究,那这个群体泛称就可以是一个中国人群体 a Chinese population,其中有汉族和傣族,这里的族就是ethinc group(Han Chinese 和 Chinese Dai), 而整个群体在群体遗传学上则都属于East Asian Ancestry。群体遗传学领域使用上的区分一个核心上的区别点就在于是否主观与客观, race以及ethinitity存在主观成分,而ancestry则为客观描述性的词语,反映基因组中的某些固定特征。在生物学或遗传学文章中,单纯描述遗传学意义的种族时应使用客观性的词语,即ancestry。群体遗传学中跨种族跨群体的英文使用简单来说应当使用 cross-population, cross-ancestry, multi-population 或 multi-ancestry 而不是 trans-ethnic原因trans有多种含义,应当使用更准确且而不引起歧义的cross或者multiethnic包含社会学成分,存在易变的主观成分,应当使用ancestry,或更广义的population基于一些历史原因,早期的文章常常混用,早期的文章中例如Brown, B. C., Ye, C. J., Price, A. L., & Zaitlen, N. (2016). Transethnic genetic-correlation estimates from summary statistics. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 99(1), 76-88.中使用了,Transethnic, 但其含义应为cross-ancestry,比较合适的用例如Momin, M. M., Shin, J., Lee, S., Truong, B., Benyamin, B., & Lee, S. H. (2023). A method for an unbiased estimate of cross-ancestry genetic correlation using individual-level data. Nature Communications, 14(1), 722.参考群体遗传学中种族使用上的区分 Race/Ethnicity/AncestryKachuri, L., Chatterjee, N., Hirbo, J. et al. Principles and methods for transferring polygenic risk scores across global populations. Nat Rev Genet (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00637-2Kamariza, M., Crawford, L., Jones, D., & Finucane, H. (2021). Misuse of the term ‘trans-ethnic’in genomics research. Nature Genetics, 53(11), 1520-1521.发布于 2023-08-26 13:40・IP 属地日本生物学生物信息学医学​赞同 12​​1 条评论​分享​喜欢​收藏​申请转载​文章被以下专栏收录GWASLab群体遗传学,遗传统计学,全基因组关

民族和国籍在英语中如何区分?外国人是没有「民族」的概念吗? - 知乎

民族和国籍在英语中如何区分?外国人是没有「民族」的概念吗? - 知乎首页知乎知学堂发现等你来答​切换模式登录/注册民族国家种族民族和国籍在英语中如何区分?外国人是没有「民族」的概念吗?那天带外国人吃云南菜,想说这是个少数民族菜,突然想到一个问题,minority 在老外理解看来是少数人群吧,并不是特指民族概念吧?民族在英文中也是 n…显示全部 ​关注者91被浏览102,267关注问题​写回答​邀请回答​2 条评论​分享​14 个回答默认排序王赟 Maigo​2022 年度新知答主​ 关注「民族」有对应的英语词。若是指某一个人的民族属性,可以说 ethnicity;若是指某一个民族群体,可以说 ethnic group。minority 指「少数群体」,不一定按民族划分。但在讨论民族的语境中,就是指「少数民族」了。在没有语境的情况下,可以说 minority ethnic groups 明确指代「少数民族」。发布于 2017-12-13 02:44​赞同 29​​5 条评论​分享​收藏​喜欢收起​匿名用户将“民族”译为 nationality 是中国的官方译法,有历史惯性。现代英文中,除了少数例外,nationality 实际已经被“国籍”独占。表示“民族”时,为避免误会,一般使用 ethnic group。People 也可表示民族(表示民族时,复数为peoples),但似乎现在使用较少,而且几乎见不到单数使用,只用复数 peoples 表示笼统的“多个民族”。另,美国也常用 ethnic origin,强调“来自”哪里。编辑于 2017-12-13 09:48​赞同 50​​14 条评论​分享​收藏​喜欢

The Difference between 'Race' and 'Ethnicity' | Merriam-Webster

The Difference between 'Race' and 'Ethnicity' | Merriam-Webster

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The Difference between 'Race' and 'Ethnicity'

How they differ and overlap

What to Know

Today, race refers to a group sharing some outward physical characteristics and some commonalities of culture and history. Ethnicity refers to markers acquired from the group with which one shares cultural, traditional, and familial bonds.

When filling out an application or legal form, you might be asked what race, in addition to what ethnicity, you identify with. While mechanically checking off the boxes or writing in your responses, you might momentarily stop and wonder, "What's the official difference?"—before continuing on.

The concept of 'ethnicity' contrasts with that of 'race' in that it is concerned with group cultural identity or expression whereas 'race' focuses on physical and biogenetic traits.

The History and Meaning of 'Race'

The word race on the form refers to the group or groups that you may identify with as having similar physical traits that are regarded as common among people of a shared ancestry, or as stated by The United States Census Bureau:

First, the [2020 US Census] question [about race] is based on how you identify. Second, the race categories generally reflect social definitions in the U.S. and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. We recognize that the race categories include racial and national origins and sociocultural groups.

In the past, race often referred to the group with which you share a similar cultural background, language, religion, or geographical origin.

The Yorkshire type had always been the strongest of the British strains; the Norwegian and the Dane were a different race from the Saxon. — Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

… this girl, Dolores by name, and a Catalonian by race …. — Charlotte Brontë, Villette, 1853

This homograph of race starts being applied in the 16th century but as a word for a group sharing a common lineage or for descendants of a common ancestor.

… by descent I am the head not only of my own race, which ends with me, but of the Haughton family, of which, though your line assumed the name, it was but a younger branch. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It?, 1857

This forest was adjacent to the chief haunts of the MacGregors, or a particular race of them, known by the title of MacEagh…. — Sir Walter Scott, A Legend of Montrose, 1819

The homograph referring to a contest or competition had a head start. Literally, it implied the act of running but figuratively it came to refer to a person's progression through life or through a period in life.

… voices from the great cloud of witnesses who ever surround us in the race of life. — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852

The History and Meaning of 'Ethnicity'

The request for your ethnicity is to learn what group of people you identify with according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. In other words, it is meant to get an idea about your nationality, heritage, culture, ancestry, and upbringing. The concept of ethnicity contrasts with that of race in that it is concerned with group cultural identity or expression whereas race focuses on physical and biogenetic traits.

When seen on a fillable form, ethnicity refers to a 20th-century construct that is based on the adjective ethnic, which dates much earlier and was originally used to describe Gentiles or nations not converted to Christianity (similar to the adjectives heathen and pagan). Ethnic enters Middle English via Late Latin ethnicus and ultimately derives from Greek ethnikos, meaning "national" or "gentile," and is related to ethnos, "nation" or "people."

In sum: the term race is understood today as primarily a sociological designation that identifies a group sharing some outward physical characteristics and some commonalities of culture and history, while ethnicity is a word for something you acquire based on where your family is from and the group which you share cultural, traditional, and familial bonds and experiences with. The end result: people may have racial similarity but ethnic dissimilarity.

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Race vs ethnicity: what is the difference between them? | Live Science

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What's the difference between race and ethnicity?

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By Emma Bryce( lifes-little-mysteries )Contributions from Stephanie Pappas last updated 1 February 2023

Race and ethnicity are terms that are sometimes used sloppily, almost interchangeably. But race and ethnicity are not the same thing.

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Race and ethnicity are terms that are used to describe human diversity.

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What is race?

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Race and ethnicity are both terms that describe human identity, but in different — if related — ways. Identity might bring to mind questions of skin color, nationality, language, religion, cultural traditions or family ancestry. Both race and ethnicity encompass many of these descriptors. "'Race' and 'ethnicity' have been and continue to be used as ways to describe human diversity," said Nina Jablonski, an anthropologist and paleobiologist at The Pennsylvania State University, who is known for her research into the evolution of human skin color. "Race is understood by most people as a mixture of physical, behavioral and cultural attributes. Ethnicity recognizes differences between people mostly on the basis of language and shared culture." Related: Why did some people become white?In other words, race is often perceived as something that's inherent in our biology, and therefore inherited across generations. Ethnicity, on the other hand, is typically understood as something we acquire, or self-ascribe, based on factors like where we live or the culture we share with others. But just as soon as we've outlined these definitions, we're going to dismantle the very foundations on which they're built. That's because the question of race versus ethnicity actually exposes major and persistent flaws in how we define these two traits, flaws that — especially when it comes to race — have given them an outsized social impact on human history. Nina JablonskiProfessor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State UniversityNina G. Jablonski is a professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. Her research on human adaptations to the environment centers on the evolution of human skin and skin pigmentation, as well as understanding the history and social consequences of skin-color-based race concepts. She has published several books, including “Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color” (University of California Press, 2014) and “Skin: A Natural History” (University of California Press, 2008), and has given a TED Talk, called “Skin Color is an Illusion.” What is race?Variations in human appearance don't equate to genetic difference. (Image credit: Hill Street Studios via Getty Images)The idea of "race" originated from anthropologists and philosophers in the 18th century, who used geographic regions and phenotypic traits like skin color to place people into different racial groupings, according to Britannica. That not only cemented the notion that there are separate racial "types" but also fueled the idea that these differences had a biological basis. That flawed principle laid the groundwork for the belief that some races were superior to others — which white Europeans used to justify the slave trade and colonialism, entrenching global power imbalances, as reported by University of Cape Town emeritus professor Tim Crowe at The Conversation. "We can't understand race and racism outside of the context of history, and more importantly economics. Because the driver of the triangular trade [which included slavery] was capitalism, and the accumulation of wealth," said Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe, a medical anthropologist at the Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference (GRID) at the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), Duke University. She is also the associate director of engagement for the Center on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) at Duke. The center is part of a movement across the United States whose members lead events and discussions with the public to challenge historic and present-day racism.The effects of this history prevail today — even in current definitions of race, where there's still an underlying assumption that physical characteristics like skin color or hair texture have biological, genetic underpinnings that are completely unique to different racial groups, according to Stanford. Yet, the scientific basis for that premise simply isn't there. "If you take a group of 1,000 people from the recognized 'races' of modern people, you will find a lot of variation within each group," Jablonski told Live Science. But, she explained, "the amount of genetic variation within any of these groups is greater than the average difference between any two [racial] groups." What's more, "there are no genes that are unique to any particular 'race,'" she said. Related: What are genes?Jayne O. IfekwunigweSenior research scholar in the Center for Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference at Duke UniversityJayne O. Ifekwunigwe is a senior research scholar in the Center for Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. As a critical and global ‘mixed race’ studies pioneer, Ifekwunigwe researches anthropological interpretations of both constructs of race as well as ‘mixed race’ and social interfaces between conceptualizations of biology and culture. Ifekwunigwe is author of “Scattered Belongings: Cultural Paradoxes of Race, Nation and Gender” (Routlege, 1999) as well as multiple journal papers.Scientists have found that the amount of genetic variation within any racial group is greater than the average difference between any two groups. (Image credit: JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images)In other words, if you compare the genomes of people from different parts of the world, there are no genetic variants that occur in all members of one racial group but not in another. This conclusion has been reached in many different studies. Europeans and Asians, for instance, share almost the same set of genetic variations. As Jablonski described earlier, the racial groupings we have invented are actually genetically more similar to each other than they are different — meaning there's no way to definitively separate people into races according to their biology. Jablonski's own work on skin color, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2010, demonstrates this. "Our research has revealed that the same or similar skin colors — both light and dark — have evolved multiple times under similar solar conditions in our history," she said. "A classification of people based on skin color would yield an interesting grouping of people based on the exposure of their ancestors to similar levels of solar radiation. In other words, it would be nonsense." What she means is that as a tool for putting people into distinct racial categories, skin color — which evolved along a spectrum — encompasses so much variation within different skin color "groupings" that it's basically useless, she said during a TED Talk in 2009. We do routinely identify each other's race as "Black," "white" or "Asian," based on visual cues. But crucially, those are values that humans have chosen to ascribe to each other or themselves. The problem occurs when we conflate this social habit with scientific truth — because there is nothing in individuals' genomes that could be used to separate them along such clear racial lines. In short, variations in human appearance don't equate to genetic difference. "Races were created by naturalists and philosophers of the 18th century. They are not naturally occurring groups," Jablonski emphasized. What is ethnicity?An attendee reacts during the ceremony at Gisozi Genocide Memorial, Kigali, Rwanda on April 7, 2022. The memorial is in commemoration of the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 mostly Tutsis, but also moderate Hutus, were slaughtered. (Image credit: SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images)This also exposes the major distinction between race and ethnicity: While race is ascribed to individuals on the basis of physical traits, ethnicity is more frequently chosen by the individual. And, because it encompasses everything from language to nationality, culture and religion, it can enable people to take on several identities. Someone might choose to identify themselves as Asian American, British Somali or an Ashkenazi Jew, for instance, drawing on different aspects of their ascribed racial identity, culture, ancestry and religion. Ethnicity has been used to oppress different groups, as occurred during the Holocaust, or within interethnic conflict of the Rwandan genocide, where ethnicity was used to justify mass killings. Yet, ethnicity and ethnic groups can also be a boon for people who feel like they're siloed into one racial group or another, because it offers a degree of agency, Ifekwunigwe said. "That's where this ethnicity question becomes really interesting, because it does provide people with access to multiplicity," she said. (That said, those multiple identities can also be difficult for people to claim, such as in the case of multiraciality, which is often not officially recognized.)Ethnicity and race are also irrevocably intertwined — not only because someone's ascribed race can be part of their chosen ethnicity but also because of other social factors. "If you have a minority position [in society], more often than not, you're racialized before you’re allowed access to your ethnic identity," Ifekwunigwe said. "That's what happens when a lot of African immigrants come to the United States and suddenly realize that while in their home countries, they were Senegalese or Kenyan or Nigerian, they come to the U.S. — and they're Black." Even with a chosen ethnicity, "race is always lurking in the background," she said.These kinds of problems explain why there's a growing push to recognize race, like ethnicity, as a cultural and social construct, according to the RACE Project. Yet in reality, it's not quite so simple. Impact of race and ethnicityPerceptions of race and ethnicity can even inform how we construct our own identities. (Image credit: Mireya Acierto via Getty Images)Race and ethnicity may be largely abstract concepts, but that doesn't override their very genuine, real-world influence. These constructs wield "immense power in terms of how societies work," said Ifekwunigwe. Defining people by race, especially, is ingrained in the way that societies are structured, how they function and how they understand their citizens: Consider the fact that the U.S. Census Bureau officially recognizes five distinct racial groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The legacy of racial categories has also shaped society in ways that have resulted in vastly different socioeconomic realities for different groups. That's reflected, for instance, in higher levels of poverty for minority groups, poorer access to education and health care, and greater exposure to crime, environmental injustices and other social ills. What's more, race is still used by some as the motivation for continued discrimination against other groups that are deemed to be "inferior," the Southern Poverty Law Center explained."It's not just that we have constructed these [racial] categories; we have constructed these categories hierarchically," Ifekwunigwe said. "Understanding that race is a social construct is just the beginning. It continues to determine people's access to opportunity, privilege and also livelihood in many instances, if we look at health outcomes," she said. One tangible example of health disparity comes from the United States, where data shows that African American women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth compared with white women, the Census Bureau reported.Perceptions of race even inform the way we construct our own identities — though this isn't always a negative thing. A sense of racial identity in minority groups can foster pride, mutual support and awareness. Even politically, using race to gauge levels of inequality across a population can be informative, helping to determine which groups need more support, because of the socioeconomic situation they’re in. As the U.S. Census Bureau website explains, having data about people's self-reported race "is critical in making policy decisions, particularly for civil rights." All this paints a complex picture, which might leave us pondering how we should view the idea of race and ethnicity. There are no easy answers, but one thing is clear: While both are portrayed as a way to understand human diversity, in reality they also wield power as agents of division that don't reflect any scientific truths. Science does show us that across all the categories that humans construct for ourselves, we share more in common than we don't. The real challenge for the future will be to see that instead of our "differences" alone.Additional resourcesFor a deeper understanding of how the U.S. government categorizes race and ethnicity, read "Research to Improve Data on Race and Ethnicity," which traces how the Census bureau is working to keep up with individuals' understanding of their own identities. (Hint: It's usually complex.) The nonpartisan Pew Research Center has a landing page for its research and survey data related to race and ethnicity, which touches on topics as diverse as immigration, health, and education. As is easy to imagine for such a hot topic, mountains of books have been written about issues around race and ethnicity. "Superior: The Return of Race Science" (Beacon Press, 2019) by Angela Saini Beacon tracks the history of scientific racism and the ways discredited ideas still influence scientific fields today. "Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision Between DNA, Race, and History" (Rutgers University Press, 2013), is a scholarly look at how the field of genetics has complicated how we talk about genetics and history. Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of our Discontents" (Random House, 2020) explores how race and ethnicity are used to divide people into hierarchies. BibliographyBibliography"About the topic of race." U.S. Census Bureau. Dec. 3, 2021."Racism and Health." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 24, 2021."What Racism Costs Us All." Finance & Development, International Monetary Fund. Fall 2020.(2014, July 31). A New African American Identity: The Harlem Renaissance. Smithsonian. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/new-african-american-identity-harlem-renaissance Roberts, Frank Leon. (2018, July 13). How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom. ACLU. https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/how-black-lives-matter-changed-way-americans-fight White Nationalist. Southern Poverty Law Center. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/white-nationalist Newkirk II, Vann R. (2018, Feb. 28). Trump’s EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/American Psychological Association. Ethnic and Racial Minorities & Socioeconomic Status. https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/minorities (2019, June 10). Ethnic Cleansing. The History Channel. https://www.history.com/topics/holocaust/ethnic-cleansing Smedley, Audrey, The history of the idea of race. Britannica. Accessed April 9, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human/Scientific-classifications-of-raceJablonski, Nina and Chaplin, George. (2010, May 5). Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0914628107Originally published on Live Science on Feb. 8, 2020 and updated on April 9, 2022.

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter nowGet the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Emma BryceSocial Links NavigationLive Science ContributorEmma Bryce is a London-based freelance journalist who writes primarily about the environment, conservation and climate change. She has written for The Guardian, Wired Magazine, TED Ed, Anthropocene, China Dialogue, and Yale e360 among others, and has masters degree in science, health, and environmental reporting from New York University. Emma has been awarded reporting grants from the European Journalism Centre, and in 2016 received an International Reporting Project fellowship to attend the COP22 climate conference in Morocco.  With contributions fromStephanie PappasLive Science Contributor

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Joe

This article is rather disturbing in that it attempts to mix science with Political Correctness.

The article implies that our concepts of Race and Racial differences is strictly social and the genetic variations are "just not there."

Well, if You use this "scientific mindset," then there is no differences between species or even Fauna and Flora. Because after all, GENETICALLY, the variations are SO SMALL as to be INCONSEQUENTIAL

The fact is that if we can DISCERN Phenotypical differences, that means that we can discriminate between one flower from another, one animal species from another and even discern male and female of various species. THAT IS SCIENCE.

The attempts to indoctrinate via Pseudo Science is not. Whomever wrote this article needs to be censured.

Reply

john.janossors

admin said:If someone asked you to describe your identity to them, where would you begin? Would it come down to your skin color or your nationality? What about the language you speak, your religion, your cultural traditions or your family's ancestry?

What's the difference between race and ethnicity? : Read moreMy reply to this question is I am of the Human Race (i do not consider that there is more than one race within humanity) Ethnicity has two answers the DNA which is of course not subject to change and the "Ethnic" group in which I was raised and/or am habituated to. There is no reason to continue to see it as any more complicated than that.

Reply

john.janossors

Why in heavens' name is human kind considered more than one Race. This is stupidity not Science. Humanity is but one Race. If some Neandertals had survived there would be two.

Reply

TRM

That's the point of the article, we are all the same species.

Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Primates; Suborder: Haplorhini; Infraorder: Simiiformes; Family: Hominidae; Subfamily: Homininae; Tribe: Hominini; Genus; Homo; Species: H. sapiens.

Based on pure biology and Linnaeus' zoological taxonomy, there are very little differences between all humans other than how we react to the external environments in which we have evolved (hair and skin color, height, facial features, muscle development, etc.). Other categories beyond this are purely human-constructed; which, is not always a "bad" thing. Only when we classify these categories as more superior or inferior do they become a source of contention. Unfortunately, that became the norm since the dawn of modern civilization.

Reply

FairfaxPhD

Joe said:This article is rather disturbing in that it attempts to mix science with Political Correctness.

The article implies that our concepts of Race and Racial differences is strictly social and the genetic variations are "just not there."

Well, if You use this "scientific mindset," then there is no differences between species or even Fauna and Flora. Because after all, GENETICALLY, the variations are SO SMALL as to be INCONSEQUENTIAL

The fact is that if we can DISCERN Phenotypical differences, that means that we can discriminate between one flower from another, one animal species from another and even discern male and female of various species. THAT IS SCIENCE.

The attempts to indoctrinate via Pseudo Science is not. Whomever wrote this article needs to be censured.I think the article does lean towards political correctness; but I think the author needs not to be censured but introduced to some statistical concepts. The physical differences we notice among the peoples native to sub-saharan Africa, Europe, eastern Asia etc. are biological in origin. These are phenotypical differences which result from genetic variations. I believe it is true that the variability within any "racial" group can be quite substantial, but not so much that an observer could wrongly perceive a person's race. There is enough enough overlap in the distribution of the skin tones of Europeans and Africans to mistake a European with dark skin for an African with light skin; but then the other the other phenotypical traits would have to bear more resemblance to the African prototype than the European prototype as well. So it might be possible but highly improbable that we could find a European with very dark skin, tightly curled hair, and thick lips that suggest the African prototype rather than the European prototype. Sometimes we will encounter a person who will be classified as black, but have a light skin tone and straight hair etc., but such people are probably the issue of parents with mixed racial origins, for example, Princess Meghan.

Reply

whatthewhat

FairfaxPhD said:.... it is true that the variability within any "racial" group can be quite substantial, but not so much that an observer could wrongly perceive a person's race.

that definitely not true, as i’ve had american indian relatives mistaken for asian more than once

FairfaxPhD said:...resemblance to the African prototype than the European prototype as well. So it might be possible but highly improbable that we could find a European with very dark skin, tightly curled hair...

ever been to southern italy?

or north africa?

Reply

Ront5353

Universality resides in the economic thesis of Karl Marx that he wrote around the early 1900,s. Use morality to blame one group or another for the ills of the world. As long as you stir the pot nothing is gained you divide people.

Reply

MonaLisa

Joe said:This article is rather disturbing in that it attempts to mix science with Political Correctness.

Define "Political Correctness" and point to the examples of it in the text. You made this claim, so the burden is on you to back it up. I do not accept the term "Political Correctness" as anything but a subjective, emotion-laden evaluation.

Joe said:The article implies that our concepts of Race and Racial differences is strictly social and the genetic variations are "just not there."

Well, if You use this "scientific mindset," then there is no differences between species or even Fauna and Flora. Because after all, GENETICALLY, the variations are SO SMALL as to be INCONSEQUENTIAL

Like myself at first, you misread the meaning of the statement. "There are more similarities than differences" meaning, once you take out the genes that are common across all of homo sapiens sapiens, there is no scientific way to discern "race", because the visible traits we use to determine belonging to certain races appear so often across the species that it is impossible to define in a meaningful way.

People do frequently "wrongly" identify the race of others -- at least, according to the people who say they have been misidentified. My husband, for example, is Sicilian. If he grows a beard, he looks like, and has been mistaken for, an Arab. But his DNA does not show Semitic origin as a primary contributor. He also has North African and Italian/Greek DNA, and he can become quite dark in the sun. What is his race? In the USA, up until the 1950s he'd be considered "Black." Is he Black? He does not identify as Black. He checks the White/Caucasian box.

This was not discussed in the article, but "race" as a term has changed in meaning ever since it was invented. Not even American surveys can agree on what races there are. The term itself, whenever surveys ask this question, mixes together terms that are used to denote observable features as well as language families and continents. Black, White/Caucasian (not Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American. This clearly makes no sense at all. Hispanic means "Spanish-speaking." What does one's language have to do with one's appearance, particularly since many "Hispanics" are actually of Indigenous South or Central American origin, whereas others are of more European origin. So "race" as a method of identifying people scientifically is not even something everyone agrees on, mixes together totally unrelated categories, and has never had a stable meaning.

Secondly many regions are completely ignored as separate even though there are clear differences in how they look. Why is "Asian" one race, when Chinese, Japanese and Koreans look VERY different from Central and South Asians, and Russians are primarily also in Asia. What race are they? Many South Asians share traits with people of African Descent, such as very dark skin and wiry hair. What race are people from India? What if they don't have dark skin and wiry hair? What race are people from the Middle East? What race are the Kurds, who are literally Caucasians, but also from the Middle East, and share some features with Semitic peoples, however some are blond with blue eyes?

Even today, there is no generally agreed-upon definitions of these races, let alone one based on measurable characteristics, so how can one measure the degree of belonging to a race? If you can't measure it, it's not a science-based categorization.

Joe said: The fact is that if we can DISCERN Phenotypical differences, that means that we can discriminate between one flower from another, one animal species from another and even discern male and female of various species. THAT IS SCIENCE.

You are in error. Human "discernment" of "Phenotypical" features is notoriously unreliable as a basis for scientific discrimination. One need only to look at the original categorizations of species by the early biologists. When we discovered DNA, we began to realize that categorization by feature was a bad way to determine how species were related. The correct, and only method of scientifically determining relationship, including belonging to a species or a variety, is through DNA typing. This is for exactly the reason that the author mentions: because many, many traits develop independently, in almost completely unrelated organisms, under similar environmental conditions. This has led many, many species to be recategorized, moved sometimes into a completely different genus, or eliminated as a separate species entirely.

I have demonstrated how race is in fact a completely unscientific method for categorizing people:

1. it mixes unrelated categories

2. it relies upon visual distinction by humans, which is cannot reliably determine relationship

3. There is no agreed-upon definition of measurable characteristics.

4. It ignores DNA

5. It lumps together groups of people that are clearly visually distinct from each other, and leaves others out entirely

Clearly race is an unreliable, inconsistent, self-contradictory, qualitative and totally subjective categorization of humans. There is no other logical conclusion but that it is unscientific.

Reply

knot sure

Ugh? Whether or not this is PC, not PC, genotypical or phenotypical it is LAUGHABLE that a myopic view of what constitutes a, "minority" is AVOIDED when one thinks about the 6 or 7 billion people on earth... So whom is really a, "minority?" Ugh. LOL. Not Asians, not Africans, not every other, "minority" you can phenotypically describe... No, in the overall pizza pie slice diagram of EITHER race or ethnicity, CAUCASIANS are a MINORITY in global population. Duh. So why pretend? If a person with more consants than vowels in their name (who was apparently angelicly brought to and raised in the USA) can lash out, instead of being subjected to FGM, ethnic cleansing, slavery, or whatever OTHER atrocious behaviors STILL are PERPETRATED by people of either the same, "race or ethnicity" has apparently forgotten that slaves were for sale on the beaches of Africa, often traded for the harder alloy of bronze. The people who traded their next door neighbors were FLUSH with gold and slaves. They needed more bronze shackles from the (Latino) Portuguese.

The hand that feeds you is the easiest to bite.

Don't forget the WORLDWIDE pie diagram when you think of what constitutes a "minority, or race, or ethnicity" of people's. Please correct me if statistics, history, or inconvenient truths embarrass myopic views... Duh.

Reply

knot sure

Oops. I accidentally uttered the inconvenient truth that Caucasians are a minority when you consider the bulk of Asia, the subcontinent of India, the overcrowded islands of Indonesia, and the burgeoning slums outside the, "5 eyes" countries. IMHO we are are all equal. Period. Just don't lecture me on birth control into already impoverished scenarios, or the accompanying stupidity that follows. It is overlooked by this article that SOME THINGS ARE EASY TO SEE. whether phenotypical or genotypical, "you can not fix stupid." And as Forrest Gump said, "stupid is, as stupid does." Which explains perfectly the population rise in impoverished majorities. Who in the, "first world" dares to call them out on their profligacy? Their ineptitude at managing their scarce (oops, their fault again) resources. The simple FACT that the Paris climate accord " front loaded" and gave both India and China 50 more years to.pollute and build coal plants... Meanwhile, I can't get a plastic straw in the USA, because 80% of the pollution in the world's oceans comes from 8 (magic) rivers in Asia.... Duh.

I don't care about the color of your skin, but as every one forgets Martin Luther King Jr.'s SECOND HALF of that sentence, "but rather that they be judged by the CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER." DUH. Please forgive the surprise that I have sprung on the uninformed, the denying fools, or the ignorant that comprise 74% of the, "bell curve." You are what you eat, and you will reap what you sow... So lay off the, Bush meat" and the bat soup... Because Y'all infected yourselves with the crowning achievement of the 2020 Darwin Award, LOL (corona virus) just like the Bush meat eaters in Africa could not resist the plagues that haunt them, too.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Peace out.

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Race vs. Ethnicity: Understand The Complex Difference

Race vs. Ethnicity: Understand The Complex Difference

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“Race” vs. “Ethnicity”: Why These Terms Are So Complex

July 31, 2020

by Alyssa Pereira

Historic protests against racial inequality. National debates over offensive names of sports team names and conflicts over the place of Confederate monuments in our culture. Arguments about border walls, language barriers—rising tensions over immigration despite an increasingly diverse populace.

In this cultural moment, the concepts of race and ethnicity have never been more important to grasp. They’ve also never been so complicated to untangle.

The words race and ethnicity don’t share a dictionary definition, and yet their meanings sometimes overlap, helping individuals define not just their skin tone and other physical characteristics, but their ancestry and heritage as well. But the uses of these often interrelated terms very often don’t intertwine.

The ways a person might utilize race and ethnicity to define their identity are myriad. These descriptors might be deeply personal. Occasionally, they might even be painful.

As we grapple with our divisions like never before, as we aspire to embrace our diversity like never before, it’s more important than ever to better understand what is meant, exactly, by the words race and ethnicity.

What is race?

There are many reasons the word race is a heated topic of debate today. One big reason is that, while we popularly use the term to refer to a person’s skin color, the whole idea of defining people that way is a social construct.

Formally defined, race is an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape.

But the word race also carries much more weight, representing not just one’s features, but their ancestry, historical affiliation, or a shared culture.

To make things more complicated, the US Census officially—and perhaps more broadly—uses race for “a person’s self-identification with one or more social groups.”

Where does race come from?

The word race was first recorded in this form around 1490–1500. English borrowed race from the French race, which derives in turn from the Italian razza, meaning “kind, breed, lineage.” The deeper roots of razza are obscure. The homonym race, in its sense of a “context of speed,” is unrelated, coming from Old Norse.

The word race originally functioned in English much like the word ethnicity. It simply referred to groups of people connected by a common descent or origin, e.g., the English race, or English people.

By the 1700s, the meaning of race began to change. As European colonialism and imperialism spread, white Europeans used race to sort humans by place of origin as well as skin color, creating the social hierarchy which served as the foundation of slavery. Anthropologists, physiologists, and other writers and thinkers in the late 18th and 19th century—including the likes of Thomas Jefferson—wrongly claimed that characteristics of a person’s race innately determined and justified their social superiority or inferiority to others. Those whose race appeared to be white incorrectly believed the color of their skin and other aspects of their appearance meant they were more intelligent, moral, capable—more human, tragically—than those who were not white.

The use of race as a classifier, however, has always been fundamentally flawed because sorting individuals based on their race is an arbitrary practice. Observing a person’s skin color, for example, is not a reliable way to infer a genetic difference or similarity. Rather, skin tone (and hair color) is created by the presence of the pigment melanin.

Visit the informative About This Word section in our entry for racism to get a deeper look into the meaning and impact of the word.

None of this is to say that race can’t be meaningful to a person—especially members of minority groups who have marginalized and oppressed—who may also associate it with cultural importance. Pop culture movements through the years have led the charge on reclaiming skin tone as a point of pride. In the 1960s, the refrain “Black is beautiful” ignited a sociopolitical revolution. More recently, American music artists like Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez celebrate their race and heritage through their work.

The use of the word race, however, can still be confusing, especially when compared to ethnicity.

What is ethnicity?

It’s easy to confuse race and ethnicity. Both words are sometimes, but not always, used to describe a person’s heritage as tied to their ancestry or place of origin. Ethnicity, however, is generally used in reference to a person’s cultural markers, not their physical appearance.

An ethnicity is a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, or language. It also refers to a person’s ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.

Like race, the meaning and use of the word ethnicity has changed over the last few centuries.

Where does ethnicity come from?

Compared to race, ethnicity is more recent, dating back to around 1765–75. It’s based on ethnic, itself a much older word found in the 1300s. Via Latin, ethnic ultimately derives from the Greek éthnos, meaning “nation, people.”

The earliest use of ethnic in English—it’s worth noting while we’re on the topic of social divisions—was as a noun for a “heathen” or “pagan.” At that time, ethnic was also used colloquially to refer to those who originated from nations that weren’t Christian or Jewish.

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that ethnicity was used to refer to social groups of a common ancestry and shared culture. But by the mid-1960s, the adjective ethnic, in white mainstream culture, did develop xenophobic connotations: ethnic came to mean “foreign, or un-American.”

Efforts to counteract these uses are active in many areas of industry, notably in the food business, where ethnic has become an insensitive catchall for “non-white.”

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What defines a person’s ethnicity

So, what are the shared cultural markers of ethnicity? There are many, and often exist in combination. Here are some of the main ones:

Language. Ethnicity is often tied to the language someone speaks, such as Spanish, thereby representing a shared cultural history among those who also speak the language.

Nationality. It is also connected to one’s ties to a specific nation, such as the Philippines. In this instance, a person could describe their ethnicity as Filipino, whether or not they personally speak Tagalog. Many white Americans traditionally identify their ethnicity as Irish or German, as another example, based on where their family emigrated from.

Religious expression. Ethnicity can also be tied to a religion, particularly when there are social commonalities and longstanding cultural practices involved, as in Judaism or Islam.

Why race and ethnicity are such complex terms

Race and ethnicity have been used as not just descriptors of a person’s physical features or ancestral origin, but throughout history they have also been deployed, sometimes maliciously, as a means to other—if not outright hurt or oppress—someone perceived to be different.

When speaking about someone’s race, we often mean that they are Black, white, Asian, or Indigenous, for example. However, this generalization of races collapses too many differences, not allowing for much variation between, say, Asian and Pacific Islander, or Indigenous, Native American and Australian Aboriginal.

This is where ethnicity can be of assistance. That descriptor can be specific and supplemental to a person’s race, speaking to a person’s culture, ancestry, and sometimes language and religion. For example, a person’s race may be white, but ethnically, they may identify as Italian. Another’s race may be Black, but ethnically, they may be Haitian.

Nevertheless, the meaning of race and ethnicity remain convoluted. Notably, the U.S. Census defines Hispanic not as a race, but an ethnicity, adding that Hispanic people may be of any race.

However, many Hispanic people disagree with that classification, a 2015 Pew Research study found. Two-thirds of Hispanic Americans consider Hispanic as their “racial background”; half also say Hispanic is also part of their ethnic background. In an earlier study, Pew found one-third of Hispanic Americans checked the box for “some other race” when self-reporting on the 2010 Census. Half chose “white.”

Such an entanglement between race and ethnicity is not exclusive to Hispanic Americans. Many people find their race to be inherently tied to their ethnicity, even though their appearance may not be specific to their personal nationality.

Find out more about the knotty relationship between the terms Hispanic and Latino and what they each actually represent for most. 

How to use race and ethnicity

So, is there a difference between race and ethnicity? The short answer? Yes, but it’s very complicated. Use of the words overlap and are very historical and often personal. But very generally speaking, the word race involves shared physical characteristics, especially skin color, and a shared ancestry or historical experience based on that, whereas ethnicity involves shared cultural or national identity, which may include language, nationality, religion, or other customs.

As Jennifer DeVere Brody, Stanford University’s Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, powerfully sums up the issue of race vs. ethnicity: “Race is something we believe to be heritable, and ethnicity is something learned; however, this masks the history of how race has been used to create these concepts for political power.”

Alyssa Pereira is a freelance writer in San Francisco, California. Her work has been featured on SFGate.com, SPIN Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Paper, Vice, and others.

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[ toor-tyair ]

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Mar 14, 2024

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Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Nationality: What Are The Differences? - WorldAtlas

Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Nationality: What Are The Differences? - WorldAtlas

Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Nationality: What Are The Differences?

Demonstrators in Philadelphia participate in a rally against white nationalism and other forms of racism and hate organized by the interfaith advocacy organization. Image credit: Michael Candelori/Shutterstock.com

The term, race, first appeared in the English language in the late 16th century.

Ethnicity can include several characteristics, such as race, language, and religion.

Nationality usually implies that a person is from a specific country or a territory dominated by a certain ethnic group.

Race. Ethnicity. Nationality. These are concepts that can bring people together, but they are also concepts that can tear people apart. Some believe that these concepts are purely human inventions, while others believe they are as real as the sun and the moon. Regardless of how one sees them, however, the fact of the matter is that they are concepts that have influenced our past, our present, and very likely our future. To complicate matters, there is no universal consensus on how to define each of these concepts individually. It all depends on one’s ideology. In some ideologies, race, ethnicity and nationality are all one and the same. Other ideologies hold that nationality simply means your country of citizenship and that race and ethnicity have no significance. Here are some of the key differences and similarities between the three concepts:

Race

International friendship. Image credit: View Apart/Shutterstock.com

The definition of race has not been consistent throughout history, nor is it consistent today, based on people’s beliefs. But generally speaking, many people today think of a race as a group of people having certain physical characteristics. And the most distinguishing physical characteristic has historically been skin color. As for the science behind the concept, the growing consensus among scientists is that there is no way to divide homo sapiens, the scientific name for our modern human species, into races, and that the physical differences between people are the products of evolution and the adaptation of groups of human beings to the environments in which they lived.

There are, however, still scientists that do believe there is a correlation between physical characteristics and things like intelligence and morality. This belief was very prevalent among Europeans during the colonial era, in which European powers colonized and subjugated multitudes of different peoples in Africa, Asia and the Americas. They often justified their ill-treatment of the conquered lands’ native inhabitants based on their belief that those inhabitants were racially inferior to white Europeans. This same belief was often the justification used by white Americans for the institution of slavery in the U.S., and later, the Jim Crow Laws that led to the segregation of blacks and whites in the South.

According to some, race can be synonymous with a person’s ethnic or national identity. In Nazi ideology, for example, Jews and Slavs were considered races unto themselves, and inferior races at that, while the so-called Aryans, were at the top of the Nazi racial hierarchy. But simply being white didn’t make someone Aryan. They had to be considered descendants of Europe’s ancient Germanic tribes. In early U.S. history, the Irish were often considered a race separate from Americans of British descent, despite the fact that they were also white.

Ethnicity

International friendship. Image credit: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com

Like race, a person’s ethnicity derives from their origins. Unlike race, however, ethnicity can also denote a person’s language, culture, or even their religion. Jewish people, for example, are commonly identified as such based on their religious affiliation. Indeed, there are many cases of people who may have Jewish origins, but do not practice Judaism, and therefore, more often than not, do not consider themselves to be Jewish, nor would they be considered Jewish by the vast majority of Jews.

In addition, just as it is possible to be of mixed racial heritage, it is also possible to be of mixed ethnic heritage. Say, for example, that your parents came from different ethnic backgrounds. One was of French origin and the other of Italian origin. Your family would likely carry on customs and traditions of both ethnicities. This is the case for many if not most U.S. citizens.

Some believe that ethnicity does, and even should, overlap with race, nationality, or even both. There are Americans, for example, who hold the belief that one is only a true American if they are of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant origin. Some people in both the U.S. and Canada do not want to welcome new immigrants of non-European origin into their countries based on the belief that they won’t hold so-called Western values. There are also many countries in which a person must meet certain ethnic criteria to qualify for citizenship.

Nationality

The word nationality can have different meanings. It can denote a person’s relationship to a specific nation-state. To say, for example, that someone is an American national would indicate that the person is a U.S. citizen. So in other words, nationality can be another way of saying citizenship.

There are other contexts, however, in which nationality overlaps with ethnicity. In Israel, for example, the term nationality that appears on national ID cards implies what in the U.S. would be a person’s ethnicity, and has no relation to their citizenship. Hence, Jewish Israelis will have ID cards that indicate their nationality as being “Jewish”, while Arab Israelis, who make up the bulk of Israel’s non-Jewish population, will have “Arab” indicated as their nationality on their ID cards. Israeli is not considered a nationality, and therefore, will not be found on the ID cards of Israeli citizens.

Many people around the world struggle to be recognized as a nationality. In other words, they want an independent nation-state for themselves. The Kurdish people of the Middle East, for instance, are an ethnic group that make up the majority of the population in parts of present-day Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. But many of them see themselves, not simply as an ethnic group, but as a nation deserving the status of nationality in the form of an independent nation-state. Other groups of people seeking to become nationalities include the Palestinians, who are also located in the Middle East, as well as the Basques of France and Spain, the Quebec sovereigntist movement in Canada, the Baluchis of Pakistan and Iran, and the Tibetans and Uighurs of China. Each of these groups argue for independent nation-states on the basis that they comprise a majority in the lands in which they live and want to protect their cultures, languages, and traditions that they believe are under threat from the countries that currently rule them. Hence, a key difference between ethnicity and nationality is whether or not a group of people with a common heritage in the form of shared traditions, language, or religion reside in a specific territory to which they have a legitimate claim.

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Jason Shvili May 31 2020 in Society

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Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Nationality: What Are The Differences?

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Race and ethnicity facts and information

Race and ethnicity facts and information

Skip to contentNewslettersSubscribeMenuCULTUREEXPLAINERRace and ethnicity: How are they different?Race and ethnicity don't show up at the genetic level, but the concept of race still forms the human experience.The four letters of the genetic code —A, C, G, and T—are projected onto Ryan Lingarmillar, a Ugandan. DNA reveals what skin color obscures: Race is a construct.Photograph by Robin Hammond, Nat Geo Image CollectionByErin BlakemoreFebruary 22, 2019•4 min readRace and ethnicity are two concepts related to human ancestry. Race is defined as “a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.” The term ethnicities is more broadly defined as “large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.”“Race” is usually associated with biology and linked with physical characteristics such as skin color or hair texture. “Ethnicity” is linked with cultural expression and identification. However, both are social constructs used to categorize and characterize seemingly distinct populations.Ethnicities share a cultural background. Mea Shearim neighborhood, just outside of Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, is populated mainly by Haredi Jews.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer, Nat Geo Image CollectionGenetics and raceNeither race nor ethnicity is detectable in the human genome. Humans do have genetic variations, some of which were once associated with ancestry from different parts of the world. But those variations cannot be tracked to distinct biological categories. Genetic tests cannot be used to verify or determine race or ethnicity, though the tests themselves are associated with an increased belief in racial differences.Though race has no genetic basis, the social concept of race still shapes human experiences. Racial bias fuels social exclusion, discrimination and violence against people from certain social groups. In turn, racial prejudice confers social privilege to some and social and physical disparities to others, and is widely expressed in hierarchies that privilege people with white skin over people with darker skin colors.Categorizing raceRace and ethnicity are often regarded as the same, but the social and biological sciences consider the concepts distinct. In general, people can adopt or deny ethnic affiliations more readily than racial ones, though different ethnicities have been folded into racial categories during different periods of history.Religious customs also play a part in ethnicity. Here, worshipers celebrate the blessing of the water and washing of the Ethiopian Patriarchs' feet on Holy Thursday in the Old City in Jerusalem.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer, Nat Geo Image CollectionAs legal scholar Tanya K. Hernandez writes, “The social experience of being consistently viewed as distinct is what informs a racial identity, not a shared culture.” People who share an ethnicity may speak the same language, come from the same country, or share a religion or other cultural belief or expression.1:27The politics of raceThe United States government recognizes distinctions between the concept of race and ethnicity, and sorts individuals as White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, or “other.” It also recognizes two ethnicities: Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino. This demographic data in turn affects public policy and civil rights law.Humans share over 99 percent of their genetic material with one another, and variation occurs more between individuals than ethnic groups. 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