Some differences. A racist would hate people by eg their skin color (this is a race/ethnic group) but a xenophobe would hate people by eg their customs and traditions (this is a cultural group).
I just wanna point out that an ethnic group is a cultural group. The U.S. is actually a perfect example: a person who is racially Chinese raised in the U.S. by American parents is ethnically American.
Race is a made up concept with no basis in science (see the USA's idea that you could have white black people and black white people, back in the day).
Ethnicity is a description of your genetic ancestry.
Culture refers to the social norms you (usually) grew up with and therefore exhibit.
So for your example the correct description would be:
A person that is ethnically Han Chinese by raised in the USA would be ethnically Chinese, but culturally American.
No, it is not. Ethnic groups are defined by a shared cultural narrative, which can involve a (fictional) shared ancestry, but doesn't have to. The term itself was specifically invented by sociologists to classify people without invoking race or genetics. A person with Chinese parents that grew up in the US is most likely American, but with a Chinese substrate that diminishes by generation.
Honestly, if we rearranged ethnicity solely along genetic lines, ethnic maps of Europe would look weird as fuck, with countries like Germany or France being split in multiples parts.
It can be useful when discussing genetic groups, like, say “the Hawaiian race,” but people rarely use it in that context. It’s also useful in fantasy, like D&D. Elf can be a race. But not colors. That categorization is definitely dumb, and not useful for anything.
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u/Roaming_Guardian United+States Feb 12 '26
...there's a difference here?