Ethnicity as a sociological concept includes but exceeds race

Evidence

Milton M. Gordon (1988) argued that “the term ‘ethnic group’ is broad enough to include racial groups.” The inclusive quality of the term “ethnic group” becomes apparent in usage, for “all races, whatever cautious and flexible term we shall give to the term, are ethnic groups. But all ethnic groups, as conventionally defined, are not races” (1988:119). Ironically, it is thus the more inclusive quality of “ethnicity” that separates it somewhat from “race.” Gordon specifically states it: “The larger phenomenon, then, is not race but ethnicity which, as a sociological concept, includes race” (p. 131). Hence he speaks of “races and many other types of ethnic groups” (p. 130). Yet their difference should not be exaggerated, as it is “a matter of degree rather than of kind.” — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 698

Categorization

• XREF: Precisely the definitional stance the vault’s race-ethnicity passages need: race is a subset of ethnicity, differing in degree not kind. — connects to: Ethnicity is the encompassing concept that includes race — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 698; Sociological approaches insist race and ethnicity have autonomous, non-reducible effects; Ethnicity approaches treat race as voluntary culture rather than imposed corporeal status — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 37 (+5 more)
• QUESTION: This inclusive classification (race as subset of ethnicity) sits in tension with Omi & Winant’s account of racial formation as autonomous — worth chasing the boundary.
• DEEPTHINKING: The nested-set move redefines the whole race-vs-ethnicity debate away from treating them as opposites — dense and worth sitting with for CRT definitional work.

Broader Connections

• Ethnicity is the encompassing concept that includes race #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 698
• Ethnicity approaches treat race as voluntary culture rather than imposed corporeal status #expands (0.80) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 37
• Ethnicity need not be essentialist or hierarchical in the way race categories are #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 917
• Race and ethnicity are analytically distinct categories, not interchangeable terms #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 725
• Sociological approaches insist race and ethnicity have autonomous, non-reducible effects #contradicts (0.70)
• Race fixes status by ancestry while ethnicity permits negotiated identity #expands (0.70) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 391
• Ethnicity is frequently conflated with race in scholarship #corroborates (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1175
• Race and ethnicity are mutually converting categories caught in a double demand #expands (0.70)