Ethnicity, ethnic group
The word ethnicity derives from the Greek ethnos, a people. Ethnic identity gives a sense of peoplehood to an unique human collectivity. In anthropology and in sociology, "ethnic group" is used to designate a culturally distinctive, autonomous group, but in the U.S. the more general application is to identify a distinct segment of the population also sharing common cultural features and social institutions as a group. An ethnic group may overlap with a political group and it may be thought racially distinct as happens in relatively more homogeneous societies. Nationalist movements have often appealed to ethnic sentiments and used evidence of ethnic distinctiveness as a justification for political claims.
Some social scientists argue that ethnicity is a primordial affinity, part of a person's basic group identity. Others infer that ethnic sentiments are variable and that their intensity and significance are determined by the social, economic, and political situation of the group.
Much of the sociological interest on ethnicity has derived from the study of processes associated with immigration an the persistence of cultural distinctiveness among immigrant ethnic groups. Initially sociologists believed that immigrant ethnic groups would adopt the culture of the majority society (cultural assimilation). However, recent experiences with "Latinos" and other new immigrants have challenged this view.
An minority ethnic group is a collectivity within a larger population having common ancestry, memories of a shared past, and a cultural identification upon one or more symbolic elements which define the group's identity, such as kinship, religion, language, national origin, and historicity. Members of an ethnic group are conscious of belonging to the group.
Race
In sociology race is understood as a socio-culurally defined category of people who share genetically transmitted physical characteristics. The word came into the English language at the beginning of the 16th century and from then until early in the 19th century was used primarily to refer to common features present because of shared genetic descent. During the past decades the term has been reshaped and redefined. However, "race" remains a controversial concept.
Though there are discernible differences in skin color, head form or type of hair among members of the human species, no satisfactory general classification of "races" exists to which individuals may be assigned on the basis of these characteristics. Scientifically speaking, there's no such thing as "race". There is considerable variation within racial groups as between them. Moreover, the continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species.
Today, most social scientists may argue, race is a culturally based social category that was originally invented between the 16th and the 18th-century when European settlers in the new world sought to differentiate themselves from the native inhabitants they found, and the African slaves they brought over.
Sociologically speaking, it may be preferable to talk about "ethnicity" or "ethnic origin" instead of "race" since the later basically is a descriptive rather than an explanatory concept.
Nation, nationality
The roots of a nation are to be found in ethnic groups and primordial kinship, and a nation grows by a process of differentiation and opposition, –but a nation is not simply an ethnic group–. A nation is not simply a cultural togetherness. It is also a political togetherness (polity) concerned with the structuration and organization of political arrangements and the potential creation of its own state. A nation exists with other nations, and because other nations exist. A nation is a community of people sharing a territory whose symbolic boundaries are rooted on a common ethnicity and a collective sentiment of peoplehood. It is a political togetherness which is rooted in a distinct collective identity, language, history, and a national culture.
Membership of an ethnic group is something which is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned, and this is the principal basis for ethnic categorization. The Census question -- which is essentially a self-assessed classificatory one -- reflects that fact that both members of ethnic minority groups and of the majority population perceive differences between groups in that society and define the boundaries of such groups, taking into account physical characteristics such as skin color. What the Census's question reflects is the inability to base ethnic (or racial) identification upon objective, quantifiable, information as in the case of age or income, and the necessity to ask people which group they see themselves as belonging to.
Definitions: The basic racial and ethnic categories for Federal statistics and program administrative reporting are defined as follows:
1. American Indian or Alaskan Native. A person having origins in any of the original people of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
2. Asian or Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original people of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent or the Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands and Samoa.
3. Black. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
4. Hispanic. A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
5. White, not of Hispanic origin. A person having origins in any of the original people of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.