Editing Ethnicity (section)

===Approaches to understanding ethnicity===
Different approaches to understanding ethnicity have been used by different social scientists when trying to understand the nature of ethnicity as a factor in human life and society. As [[Jonathan M. Hall]] observes, World War II was a turning point in ethnic studies. The consequences of Nazi racism discouraged essentialist interpretations of ethnic groups and race. Ethnic groups came to be defined as social rather than biological entities. Their coherence was attributed to shared myths, descent, [[kinship]], a common place of origin, language, religion, customs, and national character. So, ethnic groups are conceived as mutable rather than stable, constructed in discursive practices rather than written in the genes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://commonweb.unifr.ch/artsdean/pub/gestens/f/as/files/3610/33969_110704.pdf |title=David Konstan, "Defining Ancient Greek Ethnicity", Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, vol. 6, 1 (1997), pp. 97–98. Overview of J.M. Hall's book "Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity", Cambridge University Press, 1997 |access-date=2 June 2018 |archive-date=17 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417063958/http://commonweb.unifr.ch/artsdean/pub/gestens/f/as/files/3610/33969_110704.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Examples of various approaches are primordialism, essentialism, perennialism, constructivism, modernism, and instrumentalism.
* "''Primordialism''", holds that ethnicity has existed at all times of human history and that modern ethnic groups have historical continuity into the far past. For them, the idea of ethnicity is closely linked to the idea of nations and is rooted in the pre-Weber understanding of humanity as being divided into primordially existing groups rooted by kinship and biological heritage.
** "''Essentialist primordialism''" further holds that ethnicity is an ''a priori'' fact of human existence, that ethnicity precedes any human social interaction and that it is unchanged by it. This theory sees ethnic groups as natural, not just as historical. It also has problems dealing with the consequences of intermarriage, migration and colonization for the composition of [[modern-day]] multi-ethnic [[Society|societies]].<ref name="smith13">{{Harv|Smith|1999|loc=p. 13}}</ref>
** "''Kinship primordialism''" holds that ethnic communities are extensions of kinship units, basically being derived by kinship or [[clan]] ties where the choices of cultural signs (language, religion, traditions) are made exactly to show this biological affinity. In this way, the myths of common biological ancestry that are a defining feature of ethnic communities are to be understood as representing actual biological history. A problem with this view on ethnicity is that it is more often than not the case that mythic origins of specific ethnic groups directly contradict the known biological history of an ethnic community.<ref name="smith13" />
** "''Geertz's primordialism''", notably espoused by anthropologist [[Clifford Geertz]], argues that humans in general attribute an overwhelming power to primordial human "givens" such as blood ties, language, territory, and cultural differences. In Geertz' opinion, ethnicity is not in itself primordial but humans perceive it as such because it is embedded in their experience of the world.<ref name="smith13" />
* "''Perennialism''" is an approach that is primarily concerned with nationhood but tends to see nations and ethnic communities as basically the same phenomenon. It holds that the nation, as a type of social and political organization, is of an immemorial or "perennial" character.<ref>Smith (1998), 159.</ref> Smith (1999) distinguishes two variants: "continuous perennialism", which claims that particular nations have existed for very long periods, and "recurrent perennialism", which focuses on the emergence, dissolution and reappearance of nations as a recurring aspect of human history.<ref>Smith (1999), 5.</ref>
** "''Perpetual perennialism''" holds that specific ethnic groups have existed continuously throughout history.
** "''Situational perennialism''" holds that nations and ethnic groups emerge, change and vanish through the course of history. This view holds that the concept of ethnicity is a tool used by political groups to manipulate resources such as wealth, power, territory or status in their particular groups' interests. Accordingly, ethnicity emerges when it is relevant as a means of furthering emergent collective interests and changes according to political changes in society. Examples of a perennialist interpretation of ethnicity are also found in Barth and Seidner who see ethnicity as ever-changing boundaries between groups of people established through ongoing social negotiation and interaction.
** "''Instrumentalist perennialism''", while seeing ethnicity primarily as a versatile tool that identified different ethnics groups and limits through time, explains ethnicity as a mechanism of [[social stratification]], meaning that ethnicity is the basis for a hierarchical arrangement of individuals. According to Donald Noel, a sociologist who developed a theory on the origin of ethnic stratification, ethnic stratification is a "system of stratification wherein some relatively fixed group membership (e.g., race, religion, or nationality) is used as a major criterion for assigning social positions".<ref name=Noel1968>{{Cite journal |last=Noel |first=Donald L. |year=1968 |title=A Theory of the Origin of Ethnic Stratification |journal=Social Problems |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=157–172 |doi=10.2307/800001 |jstor=800001}}</ref> Ethnic stratification is one of many different types of social stratification, including stratification based on [[socio-economic status]], race, or [[gender]]. According to Donald Noel, ethnic stratification will emerge only when specific ethnic groups are brought into contact with one another, and only when those groups are characterized by a high degree of [[ethnocentrism]], competition, and differential power. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture, and to downgrade all other groups outside one's own culture. Some sociologists, such as Lawrence Bobo and Vincent Hutchings, say the origin of ethnic stratification lies in individual dispositions of ethnic prejudice, which relates to the theory of ethnocentrism.<ref name=Bobo1996>{{Cite journal |last1=Bobo |first1=Lawrence |last2=Hutchings |first2=Vincent L. |year=1996 |title=Perceptions of Racial Group Competition: Extending Blumer's Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context |journal=[[American Sociological Review]] |volume=61 |issue=6 |pages=951–972 |doi=10.2307/2096302 |publisher=[[American Sociological Association]] |jstor=2096302}}</ref> Continuing with Noel's theory, some degree of differential power must be present for the emergence of ethnic stratification. In other words, an inequality of power among ethnic groups means "they are of such unequal power that one is able to impose its will upon another".<ref name=Noel1968/> In addition to differential power, a degree of competition structured along ethnic lines is a prerequisite to ethnic stratification as well. The different ethnic groups must be competing for some common goal, such as power or influence, or a material interest, such as wealth or territory. Lawrence Bobo and Vincent Hutchings propose that competition is driven by self-interest and hostility, and results in inevitable stratification and [[Group conflict|conflict]].<ref name=Bobo1996/>
* "''Constructivism''" sees both [[Primordialism|primordialist]] and [[perennialist]] views as basically flawed,<ref name=Bobo1996/> and rejects the notion of ethnicity as a basic human condition. It holds that ethnic groups are only products of human social interaction, maintained only in so far as they are maintained as valid social constructs in societies.
** "''Modernist constructivism''" correlates the emergence of ethnicity with the movement towards [[nation state]]s beginning in the early modern period.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1999|loc=pp. 4–7}}</ref> Proponents of this theory, such as [[Eric Hobsbawm]], argue that ethnicity and notions of ethnic pride, such as nationalism, are purely modern inventions, appearing only in the modern period of world history. They hold that prior to this ethnic homogeneity was not considered an ideal or necessary factor in the forging of large-scale societies.

Ethnicity is an important means by which people may identify with a larger group. Many social scientists, such as [[Anthropology|anthropologists]] [[Fredrik Barth]] and [[Eric Wolf]], do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups.<ref name="FredrikBarth">Fredrik Barth, ed. 1969 ''Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Cultural Difference''; Eric Wolf 1982 ''Europe and the People Without History'' p. 381</ref> The process that results in emergence of such identification is called ethnogenesis. Members of an ethnic group, on the whole, claim cultural continuities over time, although [[historian]]s and [[Cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] have documented that many of the values, practices, and norms that imply continuity with the past are of relatively recent invention.<ref>Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983), ''The Invention of Tradition''</ref><ref>Sider 1993 ''Lumbee Indian Histories''.</ref>

Ethnic groups can form a [[cultural mosaic]] in a society. That could be in a city like [[New York City]] or [[Trieste]], but also the fallen monarchy of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]] or the [[United States]]. Current topics are in particular social and cultural differentiation, multilingualism, competing identity offers, multiple cultural identities and the formation of [[salad bowl (cultural idea)|Salad bowl]] and [[melting pot]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kolb |first=Eva |title=The Evolution of New York City's Multiculturalism: Melting Pot or Salad Bowl |date=2009 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3837093032}}</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |last1=Levine|first1=Randy |first2=Gifty |last2=Serbeh-Dunn |date=Spring 1999 |title=Mosaic vs. Melting Pot |magazine=Voices |volume=1 |number=4 |url=http://www.darrenduncan.net/archived_web_work/voices/voices_v1_n4/mosaic.html |access-date=1 October 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024849/http://www.darrenduncan.net/archived_web_work/voices/voices_v1_n4/mosaic.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Pieter M. Judson ''The Habsburg Empire. A New History'' (Harvard 2016)</ref><ref>Patricia Engelhorn "Wie Wien mit Meersicht: Ein Tag in der Hafenstadt Triest" In: NZZ 15 February 2020; Roberto Scarciglia Trieste multiculturale: comunità e linguaggi di integrazione (2011); Ibanez B. Penas, Ma. Carmen López Sáenz. "Interculturalism: Between Identity and Diversity". (Bern) 2006. p 15.</ref> Ethnic groups differ from other social groups, such as [[subculture]]s, [[interest group]]s or [[social class]]es, because they emerge and change over historical periods (centuries) in a process known as ethnogenesis, a period of several generations of [[endogamy]] resulting in common ancestry (which is then sometimes cast in terms of a [[national myth|mythological]] narrative of a [[Eponymous ancestor|founding figure]]); ethnic identity is reinforced by reference to "boundary markers"{{snd}}characteristics said to be unique to the group which set it apart from other groups.<ref>Camoroff, John L. and Jean Camoroff 2009: Ethnicity Inc. Chicago: Chicago Press.</ref><ref name=Anderson,>''The Invention of Tradition''</ref><ref>Sider 1993 ''Lumbee Indian Histories''</ref><ref name=ethnic2>{{cite web |last=O'Neil |first=Dennis |title=Nature of Ethnicity |url=http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_2.htm |publisher=Palomar College |access-date=7 January 2013 |archive-date=5 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205080549/http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_2.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Seidner, (1982), ''Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective'', pp. 2–3</ref><ref name=Smith>Smith 1987 pp. 21–22</ref>