The Difference Between Race and Ethnicity

Important Terms:

Race- “is the word used to describe the physical characteristics of a person. These characteristics can include everything from skin color, eye color, facial structure, or hair color” (Tiffany, 2017).

Ethnicity- “is the word used to describe the cultural identity of a person. These identities can include language, religion, nationality, ancestry, dress, and customs” (Tiffany, 2017).

Revolutionary Social Work- adapting to social changes. Wanting equality, no matter the person’s background. They modernize themselves and want to provide revolutionary changes to make a difference for everyone by focusing on equality and being unbiased to the community’s people.

Revolutionary Social Work and Societal Understanding

Revolutionary social workers can challenge the societal understanding of race by modernizing themselves on race to help the community’s people become more knowledgeable on the topic, being unbiased, and striving for equality. When it comes to race, it is simply describing our physical attributes such as the color of our skin, our hair color, eye color, etc. “Most scientists agree that genetic differences among races do not exist which means we are all the same inside” (Tiffany, 2017). This would be an excellent point for a revolutionary social worker to use in getting people to understand that we are all the same and that the basis of race is seeing differences in people solely because of the color of their skin. I believe revolutionary social workers understanding that race is not based on biological makeup but on how people are perceived will allow for a more civil practice. This would be achieved by providing the community with an understanding of what equality looks like and the reality of race.

Ethnicity and Revolutionary Social Work

There is a significant difference between race and ethnicity. Race looks at the physical characteristics of people, specifically the color of one’s skin. Ethnicity is the developmental aspect of a person, the language a person grows to learn, the culture the person grows up around, etc. There is a difference that needs to be pointed out. Race does not set a person’s ethnicity. Understanding ethnicity’s personal and community-driven aspects could inform a more revolutionary social work approach by understanding that even though two people may share the same race, that does not mean they have the same ethnicity. It could also shed light on how everyone grows up with different ethnicity. Revolutionary social work means becoming more aware of what is happening to allow for the most effective social work. Ethnicity results in more of a personal aspect, such as how one would grow up, language, religion, etc. This would assist in a better understanding of equality. If someone were to think that race is ethnicity, it would not allow for the most effective social work because they would not understand their differences. Even though someone’s race is white, it does not mean they do not speak another language or have a different descent; this is important in understanding each person rather than assuming. Ethnicity could be within a community aspect, such as an indigenous community or tribe or a group that grows up around specific traditions and culture. Social workers provide resources to people who need them in seeking issues with inequality, personal growth, and assisting with ending oppression. However, if they do not get the proper information, how can they give each person the most beneficial resources possible? Revolutionary social workers want to change people’s lives significantly, and receiving the most accurate results requires asking the right questions instead of just assuming. To achieve this, revolutionary social workers must modernize themselves in understanding race and ethnicity differences.

Racial and Ethnic Identities VS. Privilege and Oppression

Over time, race and ethnicity have had different meanings; as we have evolved, we better understand the difference between race and ethnicity primarily based on public opinion. When looking at racial and ethnic identities, some privileges or oppressions come with it. People who typically have more privilege or power with race and ethnical identities tend not to see the level of privilege they have. When it comes to race and ethnical identities, there are many oppressions between both racial and ethnic identities. An example of racial identity oppression includes “African Americans have higher rates of mortality than other racial groups for 8 of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.” (qtd. in, Tiffany, 2017). “Although these disparities can be explained in part by social class, they are not reducible to class distinctions” (Tiffany, 2017). An example of ethnical identity oppression is shown in the video below.

Privilege in race or ethnic identities could be because “Some may pass as members of an advantaged group. Some may be given privileged because they are assumed to be members of an advantaged group” (Myers & Ogino, n.d.). Social workers could address this intersection by being revolutionary social workers. I say this because revolutionary social workers keep themselves modernized to put themselves in the best situation possible to provide the most effective change to make a difference in the lives of those seeking help. With this, they could understand that people face oppression no matter their race or ethnicity, and that needs to be understood. With that understanding, it would help prevent adding fuel to the fire, treat everyone as an equal, and help provide social justice. I think training could help increase knowledge on the topic, assisting in better, more effective modernization.

Overall Takeaway

Learning about the overall difference between race and ethnicity provided great insight and was very enlightening. I agree with Sandra Antoine Tiffany, the MSW student’s perspectives on race and ethnicity. I do think it would have been more beneficial to have more examples under the “Socially Constructed Differences” section to provide more insight into common examples of both race and ethnicity identity oppression as well as privilege. After reading this, I can say it aligns with what I have learned in the course. We have learned about the issues with racism, learning from the podcast with Marya White and multiple anti-racism blogs that touch on racism. It also aligns with the ethnicity oppression in the Grandmother Rita video where she said, “Yupik people struggle with U.S. policies… outlawing tribal language and tradition” (Bird, 2017), and the podcast with Lesther Papa speaking on microaggressions. This added depth to understanding that there is a clear difference between race and ethnicity. I feel this enhanced and furthered the understanding of what we have learned throughout this course, including defining race, ethnicity, ethnic identity oppressions, etc. I am not pursuing a degree in social work, but something I feel is great to use anywhere idea-wise would be the revolutionary social worker mentality. We should modernize ourselves to the specific times going on to allow equality for everyone. Something I mentioned earlier in this blog that is a comment for really anyone to use is, “Most scientists agree that genetic differences among races do not exist which means we are all the same inside” (Tiffany, 2017), this further allows for the idea that everyone is equal on the inside. We should not treat people differently just because of their race. Overall, I like the idea of an open-source textbook. I think with specifically revolutionary social work and the constant modernization they do to constantly stay up to date to be able to provide the most effective help to their clients; I think it is a great idea to have a textbook that can be modified and have online access to everyone so it is easily accessible. This is also very effective in providing the newest information; any updated information can be input to allow the old information to be modified with the new information.

References

All of the photos were taken from google, except the two that have in-text citation. The cover photo was also taken from google.

Bird, Jaguar. (2017, November 13). Amaurluq Bamiovan: Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein – Yupik – Traditional Wisdom, Song & Prayer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b37xRxeoF8

Myers, A., & Ogino, Y. (n.d.). Power, privilege, & oppression. http://www.scrippscollege.edu/xbk/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/files/Power-Privilege-and-Oppression.pdf 

TeleSUR English. (2016, October 13) How The US Suppressed Native American Identity. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFAQBUCNEtg&t=165s

Tiffany, S. A. (2017, August 28). Chapter 3: Cultural Competence. Introduction to Social Work at Ferris State University. https://pressbooks.pub/ferrisintroductiontosocialwork/chapter/chapter-3-cultural-competence/