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Cultural Diversity - Ethnicity
Ethnicity Ethnicity is a common term used in health and related sciences and most definitions include references to place of origin, or ancestry, skin colour, cultural heritage, religion, and language. Ethnicity denotes a sense of kinship, group solidarity, and a common culture. Mackintosh et al., (1998, p.7) define ethnicity as ‘the group a person belongs to as a result of certain shared characteristics including ancestral and geographical origins, social and cultural traditions, religion and languages’. We all belong to ethnic groups even though the term 'ethnic' is often incorrectly used in a short-hand way to only refer to individuals from black and minority backgrounds. Individuals may perceive themselves as belonging to particular ethnic groups, and identify themselves with people with whom they feel they share a common sense of identity. Thus, there are objective and subjective facets to ethnicity. The objective facet includes factual and observable characteristics such as ancestry, place of birth, cultural factors, religion, and language - these can be used as objective indicators to examine the concept of ethnicity. The subjective element is important to the individual’s perception and identification of his/her ethnicity, and the group that he/she belongs to. In this instance, the individual may assign himself/herself an ethnic identity, an ethnic group affiliation. However, such assignment is a matter of choice and preference, and individuals may equally choose not to state their ethnicity. Ethnic identity is part of cultural identity, it is an interpretation by the individual, and is subjective. In addition, as Culley (2000, p. 133) has explained, 'Ethnic identity is overlaid with gender, age, socio-economic and professional identities, each of which may be more or less significant in any specific situation, at any specific moment'. When the sense of ethnic identity is strong, individuals maintain solidarity, ethnic group values, beliefs, language, and culture. An ethnic group is a social group, and has been defined as 'a community whose heritage offers important characteristics in common between its members and which makes them distinct from other communities' (Modood et al., 1997, p.13). Furthermore, it is necessary that there is a group consciousness among members of the ethnic group in order to express the ethnic identity of the group. As Modood and colleagues (1997, p.14) contend, 'Group membership is a matter of opinion, which may change over a lifetime, and from generation to generation'. Ethnicity is not rigid and static; it is dynamic and interactive, shaped by the social, political and cultural relations between the ethnic groups, in part as responses to racism and prejudice. Modood and colleagues (1997) have considered diversity in terms of three distinct ways - origin, socio-economic status, and lifestyles. In summary, we all belong to an ethnic group. Ethnic groups may or may not be a minority within a larger community. 'Ethnicity' and 'ethnic group' are two concepts that are significant to how ethnic identities are perceived, and how people describe themselves.
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