Ethnicity approaches treat race as voluntary culture rather than imposed corporeal status

Evidence

To treat race asa matter of ethnicity is to understand it in terms of culture. It is to undermine the significance of corporeal markers of identity and difference, and even to downplay questions of descent, kinship, and ancestry— the most fundamental demarcations in anthropology. Because cultural orientations are somewhat flexible— one can speak a different language, repudiate a previous religious adherence or convert to another, adopt a new “lifestyle,” switch cuisine, learn new dances— ethnicity theories of race tend to regard racial status as more voluntary and consequently less imposed, less “ascribed.” — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 37

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames the ethnicity-based paradigm’s core assumption against the ascription-based racial-formation view.
• XREF: Corroborating anchor distinguishing ethnicity theory from racial formation theory for the vault. — connects to: Ethnicity as a sociological concept includes but exceeds race — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 698; Being culturally cutting edge draws people into actively embracing a post-racial identity — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1269