Cultural Differences Between Race And Ethnicity

In the reading, it is told that race and ethnicity can get confusing because they both a pretty similar to each other. The differences are the “characteristics that are used to assign people to ethnic or racial groups.” Max Weber describes ethic groups as, “human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common decent.” Meaning that ethnic is a belief, and it has nothing to do with blood relationships. He defined race to be, common inherited and inheritable traits that actually derive from common decent.” Ethnicity is a person’s cultural practices and race is their biological traits. The one-drop rule, is a method of identifying a persons background. If someone has 1 black grandparent and three white grandparents, the person is black because they are similar with blacks then white.

The reason why is because for many years I could not understand the differences between race and ethnicity. I would always confuse to two, or mix them up. After careful research, I finally learned that my race is Black or African-American and my ethnicity is Nigerian. Another problem I had is wither I was considered Black or African-American. I been told many times that they are the same thing, but I still believe they are different. But, I realized on applications, I consider myself black/African