Do you think that the boundary line between ethnicity and race is blurred? Justify your answer. (UPSC CSE Mains 2023 - Sociology, Paper 1)
- The word Ethnicity comes from the root word- ethnic which loosely means race. It is based on shared culture. People belonging to the same ethnic group believe in their common descent because of similarities related to physiology or culture or both.
- They need not always have the same religion or nationality. Ethnicity signifies self-consciousness of a group of people united or closely related by shared experiences such as language, religious belief, common heritage, etc.
- Ethnicity pertains to the word ethnic, which however is different from the race. The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is related to biological and sociological factors respectively.
Differences between race and ethnicity are:
- Race refers to a person’s physical characteristics, such as bone structure, skin, hair, eye colour etc.
- Ethnicity, however, refers to cultural factors; including nationality, regional culture, ancestry, and language etc.
- While race usually denotes the attributes of a group, ethnic identity typifies the creative response of a group who consider themselves marginalised in society.
Some characteristics of ethnicity are
It relates to ascriptive identities like caste, language, religion, region etc.
- It is socially mobilised and territorially confined and has numerically sufficient population, and is a pool of symbols depicting distinctiveness.
- It has a reference group in relation to which/whom a sense of relative deprivation (real or imagined) is aggregated.
- Being left out of the developmental process or even being a victim of uneven development, ethnicity causes ethnic movements.
- It is manifested in Indian politics not merely due to grassroot discontent but it is also a creation of vested political interest.
Ethnic groups that use ethnicity to make demands in the political arena for alteration in their status, in their economic well-being, etc. are engaged very often in a form of interest group politics.
Gilroy rejected both biological definitions of race and studies of ethnicity that regard ethnic groups as having very strong and distinctive culture that are slow to change. Gilory has highlighted that phenomenon of new racism (propounded by Errole Lawrence) as a struggle in defining the race as new racism put great emphasis on cultural differences. This aspect highlights how racism is interlinked with ethnicity.
For example: The Parekh Report commented that recently Muslim have emerged as the principle focus of racist antagonisms (i.e.) Islamophobia based on cultural difference hence touching ethnic contours.
Overt racism becoming taboo in some parts of the world, in other places racially or ethnically motivated wars and even genocide still take place. While it is possible to address some of the problems that cause ethnic conflict and racial hatred, there are still many underlying factors that seem likely to continue to cause such problems for foreseeable future. Hence, the clear understanding of changing dynamics of race and ethnicity hold greater significance.
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