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What Is The Difference Between Race And Ethnicity

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Race and Ethnicity
Race and ethnicity are used interchangeable by society but they are two very different things. One is used to describe science and the other sociology. Race describes physical characteristics and ethnicity describes culture characteristics. “Race is associated with biology, whereas ethnicity is associated with culture” (LiveScienceStaff, 2012).
Race uses biological characteristics such as skin color, hair color, and eye color to separate it from one population to another. Race does not define that one race is superior to the other. The reason that people of race are different is because of where they live in the world and environmental climates they live in have changed the way that they look (Henslin, 2014). “Although humans are sometimes divided into races, the morphological variation between races is not indicative of major differences in DNA” (LiveScienceStaff, 2012). So looking at race from a scientific point of view of DNA, races are only different because of how we look. This would make racism be about how we look, which is very vain. …show more content…

People can be of different races but can have the same ethnicity. It is what binds a population together by their cultural personalities (Henslin, 2014). “Ethnicity is about tradition, learned behavior and customs” (DifferenceBetween, 2011). Some people feel more strongly about their ethnicity then others. They identify with their cultural identity by the way they dress, the music they listen to and the way that they dance. Culture is very important and it tells you where you came from more than race does. People feel that their ethnicity defines who they are and this is true (Henslin,

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In the reading this week by Smedley and Smedley, the differences between ethnicity and race are discussed and the terms defined. Ethnicity is described as a group of people who have a common cultural trait, share a common language, area of origin, religion, and history (Smedley & Smedley 2005). The culture is learned, and is transferable to other people within the group (Smedley & Smedley 2005). Race is defined as physical features such as skin color or hair texture (Smedley & Smedley 2005). “Ethnicity was recognized as plastic, and transmissible, but race conveyed the notion of differences that could not be transcended” (Smedley & Smedley, 2005, p. 19).

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For Example: My family usually celebrates holidays with like white elephant on Christmas to huge parties to family/gatherings. In the United States there would not be Cinco De Mayo nor Day of The Dead if the mexicans had not come to the United States. But my cultural identity involves on what I believe on like, on how I dress i don?t wear large ridiculous hats or mexican like things that will make me look ridiculous. I wear what makes me feel comfortable and my identity I see myself and an american who loves different kinds of things like chinese food, italian food, Indian food, my cultural identity is not based on the colour of my skin but on how i celebrate things and who and what i believe on. My cultural Identity is different from all the reasons, my culture is different from mexican?s, to the whites , to the native people.

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