SOC210H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Ethnocentrism, Richard Lewontin, Hypodescent
Document Summary
Not political unity, but to unity of persons of common blood or descent: a people. Ethnikos, ethnicus, referring to heathens, those others who didn"t share the same faith. In english, ethnic referred to someone who was neither christian or jew, drawing of a boundary. Ethnic clearly referred to others, to those who were not us . Max weber subjective meaning of ethnicity, his work ethnicity and society: at the foundation of ethnic attachments lies real or assumed common descent. Ethnic ties are blood ties: the fact of common descent is less important than belief in common descent. Core of definition shifted from webers concern with putative origins and shared history, to currently shared culture, to what group members now do. An ethnic group became a group of persons distinguished largely by a common culture, typically including language, religion, or other patterns of behaviours or belief.
