Race vs Ethnicity

Race vs Ethnicity: There are many differences between race vs ethnicity. A list of differences between race vs ethnicity are given below:

The words ethnicity and race are highly similar in meaning but not the same. These are very complex terms and often use interchangeably. Most of the people don't know the differences between them and take the both words as same but these words are different in meaning. Let's try to find out some differences between them.

Race is a biological quality and ethnicity is a cultural representation. In other words, you can say that race is a representation of biological factors and impacts, while, ethnicity is a representation of cultural phenomena and changes.

Race: The definition

Race specifies a genetically distinct population within the same species. For example, if you talk about the human species, it divides the people into populations or groups on the basis of several physical characteristics like bone structure, skin, eyes color, hair etc. The different types of racial categories are found due to shared genealogy and geographical isolation but in the modern world, the isolation has been broken down because of mixing of different racial groups.

Race: As a social category

The variation in wealth, exposure to environmental toxins and access to medicine creates some health disparities. Some disparities also come from the result of racial discrimination. For example, the African American have the higher rate of mortality than other races due to breast cancer. These disparities can be explained as a part of social class.

Ethnicity

The ethnicity is a group of human population which have the same genealogy and ancestry. Its members share the same cultural traits and a shared group history. They can also share linguistic or regional traits but it is not true always. Some groups share a common group history but not a common language or religion. Ethnicity doesn't define the race of the people. For example, If I say that Albert is white so it is not enough to describe his ethnicity because he may be from England, USA, France, Germany etc. It is very difficult to discern from which country that person originates. Yes, but if you get some information about his culture, it becomes easier to determine his country of origin.

Ethnicity is different from race in this way that it facilitates you move from one religion to another and assimilate your beliefs, actions and customs to identify with that ethnic orientation.