Racial And Ethnic Groups Matrix Essay Examples

Race and ethnicity are two terms that people have always used interchangeably to mean the other, but actually they are two different terms with different meanings and entities. This assignment therefore seeks to look at and establish the difference between the two. Starting with race, this is a term used by communities to define and identify their unique and general physical characteristics that make them stand out from the other races/communities in any other part of the world. These include the coloring of their skin as well as facial resemblance. These characteristics are normally 99.9% similar and present among people of a given race, and the only slight difference is usually the normal difference between men and women. This is the only major difference that can be noted between people of the same gender.
Ethnicity on the other hand refers to similarities within a given people based on their cultures, traditions, values and activities. At the same time, ethnicity covers a group of people from the same race who exercise the same activities and other factors such as beliefs and religion. For example, almost all the Indian people come from the same race, but their differences are set apart by their religions which consequently define their cultural and traditional activities. These differences and variability in religion have been set apart by their belief as Hindu Indians, Sikh Indians and Hari Krishna Indians. All these are differences in religions which set their ethnicity apart from their race. From these two definitions therefore, it is evident that race is defined by nature since it includes the physical and biological features that cannot be changed, while ethnicity is a nurtured aspect within a person.
These differences can be well explained and pointed out in the United States of America by drawing out differences between race and ethnicity in a matrix. The United States has differences based on both race and ethnicity. Racially speaking, the country is divided into White, African American, American Indians, Asian, Hawaiian Native and Alaska natives, with the White Americans being the racial majority. Ethnic division in the United States on the other hand has been set out by the differences in people’s culture and traditions. These are the differences that have been noted and seen in ethnic groups leading to emergence if groups such as the Latinos and Hispanics.
A number of similarities as well as differences can be seen in people belonging to the same race and between a race and an ethnic group respectively. For example, people from the same race in the United States for example the Latinos have the same physical features, such as the light skinned Whites and the dark skinned blacks. Secondly, body size is yet another factor that shows the differences between these people. On average for example, the African American are more masculine compared to the Americans of Asian descent. On the other hand, various differences can be noted in the people’s ethnic group in the United States of America. Starting with the language spoken for example, the Latinos are the community with the heaviest accent compared to any other ethnic group in the United States. Secondly, the difference in the people’s lifestyle beginning with the food that they eat, mode of wearing and clothing as well as their preferences when it comes to choices in life is yet another distinctive factor. The whites are seen to be more formal when in comes to dressing while the African American on the other hand are more of casual with a carefree attitude. The same case is similar with the Latinos. These are some of the factors that have led to assimilation of given ethnic groups for example the Latinos by African Americans and this has promoted oneness and harmony among different races and ethnic groups in the United States of America.