If the state was given consideration, it would usually be as a part of the wider context, for instance as an external agent influencing local conditions. This chapter will present general aspects of these processes of contact. Although the emphasis remains on ethnic processes taking place at the interpersonal, individual level, some ways in which ethnicity may be present in other, more encompassing, social contexts will also be indicated. The contemporary phenomena of nationalism and minority issues are clearly confined to the modern world or at least, in the case of indigenous peoples, the interface between modernity and a traditional way of life. homogeneity and difference and for constructing specific versions of such identities. There has been a parallel development in the social sciences. Nationality vs. The same can be said for ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’, and it has to be conceded that the meaning of these terms frequently seems ambiguous and vague. As argued earlier, the general shift in terminology from ‘tribe’ to ‘ethnic group’ relativises such an Us/Them... Modernisation and the establishment of a system of nation-states have created a new situation for the people nowadays known as ‘ethnic minorities’ or ‘indigenous peoples’. In the two previous chapters, we have considered aspects of ethnicity from a largely behaviourist point of view. All Rights Reserved. Put briefly, this chapter explores some of the central issues concerning cultural and ethnic pluralism, multiculturalism and the relationship to liberal individualism. Whereas the last chapter looked at two typical kinds of majority–minority relations – the indigenous world and that of the modern migrant – this chapter tries to take on the full complexity of contemporary polyethnic societies, from the point of view of social cohesion and minority rights. Although people in a certain sense become more similar because of modernisation, they simultaneously become more distinctive, and... JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183h0h1, (For EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Zotero, Mendeley...), 3 The Social Organisation of Cultural Distinctiveness. A Tale of Two Crises: Migration and Terrorism after the Paris Attacks. Race and ethnicity aren't the same thing, so you can't use the terms interchangeably. Ethnicity (noun) is the identification of a person with a particular racial, cultural, or religious group.. Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation is defined in terms of ethnicity.. New topics covered include cultural property rights, the role of genetics in the public understanding of identification, commercialisation of identity, and the significance of the internet. Processes of social inclusion and exclusion, and forms of ethnic incorporation have been described in relation to interaction and social integration. If no such principle exists there can be no ethnicity, since ethnicity presupposes an institutionalised relationship between delineated categories whose members consider each other to be culturally distinctive. on JSTOR. Ethnicity is thus constituted through social contact. The empirical focus of anthropological studies was almost by default a local community. Try logging in through your institution for access. Log in to your personal account or through your institution. The differences between race and ethnicity are confusing at first, but we're here to help you understand the distinctions a little better. The first fact of ethnicity is the application of systematic distinctions between insiders and outsiders; between Us and Them. Race vs Ethnicity. This often implies a possibility for different kinds of conflicts that range from armed to autonomist movements and political segregation along ethnic cracks. A core text for all students of social anthropology and related subjects, Ethnicity and Nationalism has been a leading introduction to the field since its original publication in 1993. In some ideologies, race, ethnicity and nationality are all one and the same. In this book, Thomas Hylland Eriksen demonstrates that far from being an immutable property of groups, ethnicity is a dynamic and shifting aspect of social relationships. Nationality (noun) is the relationship between a person and the political state to which he belongs or is affiliated.. Most of them have become citizens in states, whether they like it or not. More than thirty years ago, Gellner noted that ‘modern society isbothmore homogeneousandmore diversified than those which preceded it’ (1978: 141). The spread of capitalism has also played an important part in creating conditions for new forms of ethnicity – both through local economic and cultural change and through migration. Ethnicity and nationalism are pervasive features of the contemporary world, but how far is ethnicity a result of cultural differences, and how much is it in fact dependent on the practical use of, and belief in, such differences? The perspective on ethnicity and nationalism in this chapter can be described as a perspective from below, in that we focus on ethnic groups which are not hegemonic in a state. The argument and material presented so far seem to suggest that although ethnicity is not confined to modern societies, there are aspects of many interethnic processes which are less likely to come about in non-modern than in modern contexts. Such a perspective does allow for an investigation of the symbolic aspect of ethnicity – the ethnic identity – yet this dimension is generally seen as a concomitant, or even an effect, of social process, individual utility or social functionality. Ethnicity and nationalism are pervasive features of the contemporary world, but how far is ethnicity a result of cultural differences, and how much is it in fact dependent on the practical use of, and belief in, such differences? In particular, this could be true of reflexive self-identity and that reification of culture which seems to presuppose widespread literacy. It all depends on one’s ideology. This new edition - expanded and thoroughly revised - is indispensable to anyone seriously interested in understanding ethnic phenomena. Ethnicity - - Difference Between Nationality and Ethnicity . Words like ‘ethnic groups’, ‘ethnicity’ and ‘ethnic conflict’ have become common terms in the English language, and they keep cropping up in the press, in TV news, in political discourse and in casual conversations. Other ideologies hold that nationality simply means your country of citizenship and that race and ethnicity have no significance. Drawing on a wide range of classic and recent studies in anthropology and sociology, Eriksen examines the relationship between ethnicity, class, gender and nationhood and more in a lucid and comprehensive manner. The central theme of ethnic nationalists is that "nations are defined by a shared heritage, which usually includes a common language, a common faith, and a common ethnic ancestry". Besides, anthropology was traditionally biased towards the study of ‘remote others’. While it is impossible to dissociate nationalism entirely from ethnicity, it is equally impossible to explain it simply as a continuation of ethnicity or a simple reflection of common history or language. Here are some of the key differences and similarities between … Anthropological perspectives on ethnicity as process enable us to see this contradiction as a fundamental duality between similarity and difference, between inclusion and exclusion, between homogenisation and fragmentation. In this chapter I shall go one step further and ask how ethnic groups develop, what ends they serve and how they are reproduced through time. ©2000-2020 ITHAKA. So far I have examined central aspects of ethnic processes at the interpersonal level, including stereotyping, under- and overcommunicating, contrasting and matching, and ethnic stigma. You do not have access to this JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, JPASS®, Artstor®, Reveal Digital™ and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. From this principle, it follows that two or several groups who regard themselves as being distinctive may tend to become more similarandsimultaneously increasingly concerned with their distinctiveness if their mutual contact increases. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHNICITY AND NATIONALISM 2 The Difference between Ethnicity and Nationalism Introduction Almost every contemporary nation is having at least some extent of ethnic division. The following is a list of the top downloaded articles from Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism in 2018. It is a feature of the contemporary world that people appear to become more similar and more different at the same time, due to the forces of modernity and globalisation. Here are a few examples that will demonstrate the difference between the two. It could be argued that pre-colonial notions... For years, social anthropological studies of ethnicity concentrated on relationships between groups which were of such a size that they could be studied through traditional field methods: participant observation, personal interviews and surveys. book