ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT

A. Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Prejudice is the devaluation of a given group based upon the assumed characteristics of that group
2. Discrimination is disproportionately harmful treatment of a group; it may be de facto or de jure. De facto means practiced, but not legally sanctioned such as unequal treatment of black and white policemen. It isn't legal but it happens anyway. De jure means part of the law.

Forms of Discrimination:
1. Attitudinal - discrimination against a group based only upon its existence as a group.
2. Institutional - formalized pursuance of discriminatory practice by a government or similar institution.
3. Genocide - "the deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder". This is the most extreme form of discrimination.

PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
1. Assimilation - occurs when a minority group adopts the patterns and norms of a more powerful culture, as when a migrant ethnic group conforms itself to its host culture, abandoning their own.
2. The Plural Society - refers to a multiethnic nation-state wherein the sub-groups do not assimilate but remain essentially distinct, in stable coexistence.
3. Multiculturalism - is the "view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable. This is opposed to assimilationism.

Nations and Nationalities

A. Nation and nation-state now refer to an autonomous, centrally organized political entity.

• Ethnic groups are not necessarily so formally politically organized.
• The majority of all nation-states have more than one ethnic group in their constituent populations, and the multiethnicity of all countries is increasing.

B. Nationalities and Imagined Communities

1. Nationalities are ethnic groups that aspire to autonomous statehood (regardless of their political history).
2. The term “imagined communities,” coined by Benedict Anderson, has been used to describe nationalities, since most of their member population feel a bond with each other in the absence of any “real” acquaintance.
3. Mass media and the language arts have helped to form such imagined communities by becoming the means of establishing a commonalty of values, motivations, language, and the like.
4. Colonialism refers to the political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended period of time.
5. Colonialism helped create imagined communities as different ethnic groups under the control of the same colonial administration often pooled resources in opposition to the colonial power.

Nationality and Ethnicity

Nationality - or citizenship - the nation we are a member of

Ethnicity (ethnic identity) - membership in a particular cultural group. It is defined by shared cultural practices, beliefs, values, habits, customs, norms, holidays, foods, language, costumes, music, religion, historical experience, geographical isolation, kinship or "race."

People can share the same nationality but have different ethnic groups.
Example: Citizens of the U.S. are of many different ethnic backgrounds.

People who share an ethnic identity can be of different nationality.
Example: Turkish citizens of Turkey and Turkish citizens in Germany.

Status - encompasses the various positions that people occupy in a society.

Can be ascribed status and achieved status:
Ascribed - people have little or no choice about occupying them.
examples: age, race, gender

Achieved - are not automatic; they come through choices, actions, efforts, talents and accomplishments