 Ethnicity, Language and PopulationsPablo Mateos
Chapter Chapter 2 in Names, Ethnicity and Populations, 2014, pp 9-27 from Springer Abstract: Abstract In an increasingly globalised world, ethnicity, or the question of defining one’s personal identity with reference to a “group of common descent” has become very prominent in political as well as scientific debates. Ethnicity is socially constructed and defined subjectively by a combination of aspects related to a group’s ancestry, cultural customs, language, religion, national identity, kinship networks and even physical appearance. This slippery nature has made ethnicity the most difficult variable to conceptualise and measure in social as well as medical and biological research. This chapter reviews the main definitions of ethnicity, and the related concept of “race”, as well as some of the approaches to measure it. It then proposes a multidimensional approach that conceives ethnicity as an outcome, disentangling some of the processes that end up constituting a group’s identity. Finally, it justifies the need for alternative measures of ethnicity, one of them being the use of personal names’ origins and forename-surname networks in attempting to disentangle such processes. Keywords: Ethnic Group; Ethnic Identity; National Identity; Collective Identity; Human Group (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:adspcp:978-3-642-45413-4_2 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-45413-4_2 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Advances in Spatial Science from Springer |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.