Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 7 Key Themes

• Ethnicity can be defined as a sense of belonging to a particular community, rooted in common cultural traditions and as such is a central part of the construction of an individual's identity. Theoretical issues concerning race and ethnicity are covered in this chapter, but students can trace through the practical impact of these divisions, for example, by looking at Chapter 10 'Education or Chapter' 11 'Work and Non-Work'.

• Discourse refers to a framework of ideas, concepts and assumptions that constitute an established body of knowledge or an accepted world-view. Discourses exert a powerful influence over social life, structuring thought and action. A fuller theoretical consideration of the idea of discourse can be found in Chapter 19 'Modernity, Postmodernity and Social Theory'. However, an interesting illustration of the use of discourse in a substantive area can be found in Chapter 13 'Health, Illness and Medicine'.

• Essentialism is an approach that assumes some universal essence, homogeneity and unity in the phenomena under study and, as such, has been treated with suspicion by sociologists. The struggle to establish a non-essentialist view of social phenomena can be seen in Chapter 17 'The Foundations of Social Theory'. Essentialist ideas are also challenged wherever social groups are recognised as being divided into complex fractions rather than being seen as unified wholes, as for example in Chapter 14 'Crime'.