what is ethnic group

An ethnic group is a social group or category of the population that is set apart and bound together by common ties of race, culture, language, religion, or national origin. Members of an ethnic group see themselves as sharing cultural traditions and history that distinguish them from other groups. Ethnicity may be construed as an inherited or societally imposed construct, and ethnic membership tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language, dialect, religion, mythology, folklore, ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, or physical appearance. Ethnicity is essentially self-defined and may change over time, and the classification of ethnicity is essentially pragmatic, based on categories that include common self-descriptions, are acceptable to respondents, and that identify variations that are important for research or policy. Ethnic diversity is one form of the social complexity found in most contemporary societies, and historically, it is the legacy of conquests that brought diverse peoples under the rule of a dominant group, of rulers who in their own interests imported peoples for their labor or their technical and business skills, of industrialization, which intensified the age-old pattern of migration for economic reasons, or of political and religious persecutions that drove people from their native lands.