Race and ethnicity differ by rhetorical emphasis on descent versus consent

Evidence

Goldberg reminds us that what he terms “ethnoraces” (echoing Gordon’s “eth~ classes”) may also be formed “by consent or domination by others.” Goldberg concludes: “Ethnicity … tends to emphasize a rhetoric of cultural consent, whereas race tends to resort to rhetoric of descent” (Goldberg, 1993:75-6). Yet it is a matter of a “tendency,” not of an absolute distinction. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 712

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distills Goldberg’s ethnorace concept and the consent-vs-descent distinction between ethnicity and race.