following September 11 and then spiking in different countries in the aftermath of inci-
dents there. Eighty percent of Muslims in the United Kingdom said they had experienced
discrimination in 2001, a jump from 45 percent in 2000 and 35 percent in 1999; hos-
tility increased in Spain and Germany after the Madrid train bombing and in the Nether-
lands after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, both in 2004 (International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 2006).
Ethnicity and Conflict
Ethnicity is fluid; sometimes ethic identification is stronger than at other times. For
some groups, for whom discrimination has largely disappeared, such as the Irish and
the Italians, ethnic identity has become mostly a choice (Gans, 1962; Waters, 1990).
Ethnicity becomes “situational”—to be asserted in times and situations when it will
increase their prestige and downplayed or ignored when it may decrease their pres-
tige. Or it becomes symbolic ethnicity, something to participate in on special occasions,
like St. Patrick’s Day or Passover, but ignored the rest of the time. Just as old ethnici-
ties can fade away, new ethnicities can emerge. Members of the Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani,
and other West African ethnic groups transported to the United States during the slav-
ery era were forcibly stripped of their distinctive cultures, until only a few customs
remained, but they banded together to form a new ethnic group, African American.
When several different ethnic groups are present in a single nation, they often
compete for power and resources. Because there are around 5,000 ethnic groups in
the world trying to share 190 nations, ethnic conflict is common, ranging from dis-
crimination to violence and sometimes even civil war. Since 1945, 15 million people
have died in conflicts involving ethnicity to some degree (Doyle, 1998).
At its most brutal, ethnic conflict can result in genocide, the planned, systematic
destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. The most infamous modern exam-
ple of genocide is the Nazi massacre of 6 million Jews, Gypsies, gays, and other “unde-
sirables” during World War II, but there have been a number of others. Between 1915
and 1923 the Turkish elite of the Ottoman Empire killed over 1 million ethnic
ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES 271“Choosing” One’s Ethnicity
Although we often experience ethnicity as a “primor-
dial” essential and biologically based category, soci-
ologists are also aware that ethnicity can be more
flexible than that. In her book, Ethnic Options(1990),
Mary Waters describes the ways that different ethnic
groups either exaggerate or downplay their ethnic-
ity, depending on the situation.
Sometimes ethnicity can be rather confusing—to ourselves
and to others. One of my colleagues, Pat Pugliani, had several
children. Pat was from an Italian background and, at the time,
a stay-at-home mom, and she spent a good deal of time prepar-
ing Italian food, celebrating traditional holidays, and the like.
When Sara, her youngest, was in elementary school, the class
was doing a unit on ethnicity, and the kids had to do a report
on their ethnic background. One day, Pat got a concerned phonecall from the teacher. “I think we have a problem with Sara,”
the teacher said.
Sara was doing a report about Italy, the teacher said. “Well,
what’s wrong with that?” Pat asked. “But, but.. .” the teacher
stammered. “She’s Asian!”
Sara was indeed of Korean origin, and Pat and her husband
had adopted her. And though they spend some time learning
about Korea, Sara also identified with the ethnicity of her family.
Sara’s teacher informed Pat on the phone that Sara should
do a report about Korea. So she did. That week, the children were
all supposed to bring in a dish that was representative of their
culture. Pat found a recipe for bulgogi, a Korean barbecue steak,
and brought it to class.
Now the teacher was again shocked—this time seeing a non-
Asian parent! Ever the sociologist, Pat patiently explained to the
teacher the difference between race and ethnicity, and that we
can often choose our ethnicity from a range of options.Sociologyand ourWorld