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Sociology Essay On Race And Ethnicity

957 Words4 Pages

Introduction The concept of identity has been a notion of significant interest not just to sociologists and psychologists, but also to individuals found in a social context of perpetually trying to define themselves. Often times, identities are given to individuals based on their social status within a certain community, after the assessment of predominant characteristics that said individual has. However, within the context of an ethnicity, the concept identity is most probably applied to all members of the ethnical group, and not just one individual. When there is one identity designated for the entire group, often times the factor of “individuality” loses its significance, especially when referring to the relationship between the ethnic …show more content…

Race, nationality and ethnicity Race and ethnicity are seen as form of an individual’s cultural identity. Researchers have linked the concept of “race” to the discourses of social Darwinism that in essence is a categorization of “types” of people, grouping them by biological and physical characteristics, most common one being skin pigmentation. Grouping people based on their physical traits has lead in time to the phenomenon of “racialization” (or race formation), as people began to see race as more of a social construct and not a result or a category of biology. Race cannot exist outside of representation, and that it is formed in the conscience of individuals after either a social process (the status of certain people within a society) or by factors such as political power (what laws are imposed on what people) and only then are observable characteristics of an individual transformed into race signifiers. If racialization compartmentalizes people based on a wide range of characteristics, ethnicity takes the concept of categorization to a more precise and static level. Ethnicity is set apart from race as, although still a form of cultural identity, it is a cultural concept focused on the sharing of beliefs, values, norms, cultural symbols and practices and not biological or physical

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