Society & Politics

Race, Nationality, and Ethnicity Whats The Difference?

Often times, race, nationality, and ethnicity are confused. This take will define and clarify the differences between these terms, so that you may use them properly.


Race


Mirriam Webster Dictionary defines Race as "a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits"


Nationality


Mirriam Webster Dictionary defines Nationality as "a group of people who share the same history, traditions, and language, and who usually live together in a particular country"


Ethnicity


Mirriam Webster Dictionary defines Ethnic as "of or relating to races or large groups of people who have the same customs, religion, origin, etc. "



Now that we have defined what race, nationality and ethnicity mean, we should have a better understanding of what each is. So why do people misuse these terms all the time? well, often race,nationality,and ethnicity are intertwined. maybe an example will give us further understanding.


Race, Nationality, and Ethnicity Whats The Difference?



I will use "John" as an example, to help us understand these differences. John has blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Based on his physical traits John is considered "White." John was born in the United States, grew up in New England, speaksEnglish, enjoys playing football and watches fireworks every 4th of July at his local park. This makes John American. John was raised catholic, in an Irish neighborhood, by Irish parents. That helps define his ethnicity.


Race is usually obvious to identify; we can identify John as being white easily just by looking at him. Nationlity isn't something you can easily tell just by looking at someone. But if we know that John's great grandfathers came to the United States from Ireland for new opportunity and his family has had several generations within the United States, we can better identify his nationality as American, or IrishAmerican to be specific.


Ethnicity can also be tricky to identify, so if John has blonde hair, pale skin, is Catholic, has Irish ancestry, and roots for the New England Patriots every football season what ethnicity is he? John, is a White, Catholic, American man. Ethnicity is based off so many different things its hard to pin point exactly what we are and thats what causes much confusion! We are so diverese! Everyone is their own individual and has so many different physical traits, ancestries, traditions and religions.



I hope this can help everyone use these words as effectively as possible!

Race, Nationality, and Ethnicity Whats The Difference?
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