Ethnic group

An ethnic group is traditionally defined as a population that meets four broad criteria, as pointed out by Fredrik Barth:

1. is largely biologically self-perpetuating
2. shares fundamental cultural values, realized in overt unity in cultural forms
3. makes up a field of communication and interaction
4. has a membership which identifies itself, and is identified by others, as constituting a category distinguishable from other categories of the same order.

This basic definition is widely used in anthropology, and serves as the starting point for several important scholars in their work on topic of ethnic groups.

Sources and Further Reading

• Barth, Fredrik, ed. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Cultural Difference. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.