Across the world today, there is serious and growing concern over the issue of ethnic relations and conflicts. India, too shares this concern, as ethnicity poses a serious problem in Indian society. In this section we will define the following terms. (1) ethnic and ethnic groups, (2) ethnicity, (3) ethnic identity, (4) ethnic boundary, (5) majority and minority groups, and (6) conversions.
Ethnic and Ethnic Group:
The term ‘ethnic’ derived from the Greek word ‘ethno’ meaning ‘nation’. It was originally used to denote primitive tribes or societies that formed a nation on the basis of their simplistic forms of government and economy. But sociologist and social anthropologist use the term ethnic in a wider
sense, based on their studies of precolonial and pluralistic societies. Their studies revealed the co-existence of many groups that can termed ‘ethnic’ within a nation. So in the course of time, ethnic has come to mean that which pertains to a group of people who can be distinguished by certain features like race, language or any other aspect of culture.
Ethnic Group, is, therefore, defined as a cultural group whose members either share some or all of the following features- a common language, region,
religion, race, endogamy, customs and beliefs. Members may also share a belief in common descent. On the basis of this definition we may say that the Jews, Negros, Japanese, Muslims, Biharis all form distinct ethnic groups. Ethnic group, thus refers to a group of people who share some common physical and /or sociocultural characteristics. it is important to understand because ethnic group defines an individual’s social personality. It is formed on the basis of cultural and racial uniformity. The essence of this group lies in the individual’s feeling of belongingness to it because of cultural association shared with other members. Birth determines incorporation into these groups, thereby making membership relatively restrictive, however, exception to this rule exists, for instance, in the form of conversions.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity refers to the interrelationships between ethnic groups. Thus, the phenomenon of ethnicity becomes more pronounced when viewed at a
interactional level. Cohen (1974) defines ethnicity as a process of “interaction between cultural groups operating within common social contexts”. Though ethnicity is manifest in intra-ethnic relations, it becomes more apparent in interethnic situations, as the very essence of ethnicity stems from the need to establish ethnic identity.
Ethnic Identity.
Ethnic identity reflects both ‘likeness’ and ‘uniqueness’. On the one hand, it reflects on what the members of an ethnic group hold in common, at the same
time differentiating them from other ethnic groups. The following is a diagrammatical representation of some of the factors of ethnic identification as
arranged around the ‘self’.
- NATIONALITY
- LANGUAGE
- RELIGION
- REGION
- RACE
- CASTE
- SELF
The order of arrangement may vary from one social context to another depending on the issue. Also, some of these factors may vary in significance from
society to society. For example, in India, caste happens to be an important form ethnic identification but it is of no significance when studying a European community.
Ethnic Boundary
Ethnic boundary refers to a social boundary which does not always correspond to territorial boundary. The individual defines himself through his
ethnic identity whereas ethnic boundary defines the social limit of the ethnic group. A dichotomisation of “others” as strangers, as members of another ethnicgroup, has two implications:
i) The recognition of one’s own social boundaries (ingroup& outgroup) and
ii) The limitation of common understanding and mutual interest. People outside the boundary are not expected to have a common understanding
and interest.
Majority and Minority Groups:
The study of ethnic groups incorporates both the majority and the minority groups. The term ‘majority groups’ refer to the numerical representation of
persons is a group and its control over economic and political resources. Usually it has been noticed that one ethnic group appears to be in dominance over other ethnic groups. However, we cannot overlook the internal disparities that exist within each ethnic group in terms of economic status. That is, certain sections in the minority group may enjoy majority status and vice-versa, in which the group may occupy either minority or majority status as a totality.
There exists a relationship of inequality between the majority and minority groups. The dominant group or the group enjoys numerical strength and control
over economic and political resources. This group has all the privileges and advantages. The minority group on the other hand consists of people who are
immigrants to the host society. Their numerical strength is low and they are in a subordinate position to the majority groups, in relation to control over the limited resources.
The co-relation between numerical strength over economic and political resources is a point of argument. As history provides many evidence of minority
dominance over mass majority, for example, the British colonialism in India. In the present times, we have the minority White domination of a Black majority in South Africa, or the immigrant Bengal minority occupying higher offices in Assam. These instances reveal that the myth surrounding the ‘minority group’ concept, as being a group, which is subjected to dominance and inferior status because of its low numerical strength, is not true. As it is obvious that a group control over political and economic resources irrespective of its numerical strength become a ‘majority minority’.
Conversions:
The membership into an ethnic group is primarily determined by birth, though conversions constitute and exception to this rule. Conversion, literally, means change into another form. The most popular example of conversion is religious conversion. Conversions pose a problem in group identification and boundary maintenance. That is, in situations, where members of one group have become members of another ethnic group, there develops a problem regarding the allegiance of these converted members to either of these ethnic groups. The process of conversion has gone on for centuries. For instance, Hindus have converted themselves into either Islam or Christianity. Caste mobility has also taken place, whereby using a higher caste as their reference group, the lower castes have gradually claimed a higher caste status. Process of miscegenation has taken place, whereby children have born from racial intermixture. These kinds of conversions lead to a problem in the study of inter-ethnic relations. But in spite of these conversions ethnic groups still persist as they are not affected by these changing loyalties.