Is Ethnicity a Socially Constructed Ideal?

Ethnicity and race are viewed as a vital part of most nations. Wars have been fought over both. In the United States, our census asks both what a person’s race is, as well as ethnicities and one can check however many boxes off as they feel they identify with. Though race is biological, the division of race is a socially constructed idea used to categorize people based on skin tone in a nation. Although race is biological with a social construct factor to it, ethnicities are solely a social construct that has no biological factor to it whatsoever. Someone can be the same race as another, yet have a completely different ethnicity as their neighbor. Ethnicity is a beautiful social construct, but when the wrong hands are put in power, targeting ethnicities becomes a dangerous thing.

Ethnicity is an important part of culture. It gives us a definition of who we ae culturally. Ethnicity gives us tradition. For example, Italian Catholics celebrate Christmas Eve with the celebration have the seven fishes. The Irish put a thick, burning candle in their window on Christmas Eve as a way to symbolize the welcoming of Mary and Joseph. These are just two examples of how people of the same race have complete different ethnicities. In the United States, it is difficult to pinpoint one ethnic group, however, the plentiful ethnic groups represented are what make our country the melting pot we are. Ethnicity is a beautiful concept that allows people to celebrate their culture without necessarily living in the country their ethnicity originated. We often associate man made, socially constructed ideas as bad things to society, however, I think ethnicity is a flourishing example of how wonderful different cultures are.

We are not born automatically having an ethnicity. It must be learned. Much like learning about one’s ethnic group (if they so desire to identify in one) hate for another group is also learned. Ethnic differences do not brew hate. In fact, most people of different ethnicities do not degrade others for their ethnicities. For instance, those who live in the Yugoslovic nations tend to not feel any hatred toward the other ethnic groups. Thought they all hold different traditions and beliefs, their difference mean nothing. They are all human beings to one another and they don’t let those differences get in the way of this belief. There are several theories as to why the Yugoslavic states experienced such a horrific ethnic cleansing. There is no simple answer to this. But one theorist, V.P Gagnon, believes that in order for the ethnic cleansing to have occurred, those in power must destroy the social reality that everyone is equal regardless of ethnicity. Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians typically had favorable opinions to each other, but the leaders manipulated their citizens into believing otherwise. Hate brews hate. The citizens of these nations needed to feel reliant on violence in order for the leaders’ plans of ethnic cleansing could work.

Cases like this can be seen across history. The most infamous is the Holocaust. Though there was a strong antiemetic movement across Eastern European countries before Hitler came to power, Germany under the Weimar Reich, tolerated Jews. The anti-Semitism seen before Hitler rose to power. It was a hatred to play on the pathos of early Christians who believed Jews killed Jesus Christ. This was a learned hatred, as Jews and Christians lived in harmony in other parts of the world. Hitler played on the pathos of those who believed this and on the pathos of the people who suffered economically in the crumbling fiscal state they were in. Hitler convinced his whole nation Jews were the reason for the country’s economic downfall. Gagnon’s theory can be applied here, as Hitler destroyed the social reality they were in. This destruction of reality lead to one of the worst, if not the worst genocides ever reported in history. Not only were Jews targeted, but so were Gypsies. People who did not follow the “normal” cultural ethnicity the Germans had were targeted. This hatred was brewed in the people. It was a learned behavior.

Ethnicities make us different only in the ways we act. Even then, in many developed countries, people identify as several different ethnicities. They are beautiful socially constructed categories that show though we all may act differently, we are all the same at the genetic level. Ethnicities are learned cultural values, but when the wrong person is placed in power, the fragility of ethnicity can be crumbled and fall apart, as the hate that is spread about ethnicities is a learned behavior. 

Works Cited

Gagnon, V. P. "1,2." The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. N.p.: Cornell UP, 2006. N. pag. Print.

JPC-DESIGN, Whychristmas?com /. "Christmas in Ireland on Whychristmas?com." Christmas Around the World -- Whychristmas?com. N.p., n.d. Web.