How much does ethnicity determine a person?

Well, I think your environment affects you, but does not have to predetermine your personality, I think genes have little to do with this. Sociological studies show that certain ethic groups and subgroups have things in common. But these are just generalizations and are not true for 100% of a group. I think socio-economic situation has much more to do with psychographics and atitudes than ethnicity.

I think ethnicity has very little to do with how a person is “on the inside.” It’s all about environment and circumstance.

It is all outer cultural trappings really. Our biological functions are the same.

We eat, sleep, laugh, cry, dance, dream.

The variations in our ethics, values, etc. are not that wide.

If we look for our commonalities instead of our differences, we are much better off.

Ethnicity doesn’t run along “racial” lines, but include culture and language too. It’s a broad term. Yes, our ethnicity affect our way of behavior and thinking. This is rather a genes vs environment question IMO. I don’t that our characters are determined by ethnicity, but our parents genes and the environment we grow up in both affect who we become.

But in the end, I think we ultimately decide who we are, by our actions and everyday conclusions.

There are health problems which affect certain ethnic groups more often. It also seems that certain ethnic groups are more athletically inclined (ex: those quick ass Kenyans, and people of African descent seem to be able to run like the wind- Usain Bolt). Then again, you have to wonder if that’s cultural, too.

I’m not sure that ethnicity alone determines anything about personality, though.

@ubersiren when you say it doesn’t affect personality are you using that synonoumously with behavior? That it does not affect your behavior what ethnic group you are from?

Of course. We are all human, we share the same DNA structure, blah, blah, blah, but our enviornment shapes us, makes us who we are psychologically and spiritually.

I grew up in an Latino neighborhood with my ½ Latino family. My ethnicity is Chicana, my ideas and experiences were molded by this culture. The words I use, certain ways of thinking, even my approach to food is a product of my ethnicity. When I am around white people, or any other type of people, I do not feel as comfortable as when I’m in a population of Latinos. I don’t even speak Spanish.

Why would anyone want to give up their culture just to be like everyone else? I hate the idea of the melting pot. We are more like a trifle: all the components are there, and they work great together, but the seperate flavors allows everyone to keep their identity but still be a part of the whole.

Very little, unless your ethnic and cultural group are one and the same. Environment and cultural factors are key; there are no innate behavioral characteristics that a particular ethnic group is held and forced into. Even still, we are unpredictable – we are animals. A group may be inclined to think together and follow as sheep; the single mind is not so fettered.

@tinyfaery the idea of a melting pot is that we are from many different cultures coming together, but your word/analogy is better to describe America.

To me melt means everything blends together and you can’t differentiate one ingredient from another, thus it’s all the same. But that’s just my reading.

@tinyfaery I agree with @JLeslie. Having been brought up in a very similar environment as you, what you describe is less so resemblant of your particular ethnic makeup or characteristics and more so due to your… well, environment.

If you grew up in a posh suburb, enveloped in a predominantly white neighborhood and culture, you’d feel more comfortable with them than you do now, no? Your tastes, fears, likes and attractions are all cultured and nurtured.

@tinyfaery Hmmm…well, there is some validity to the idea that people become Americanized or assimilated. I think a certain amount of that is good, without letting go of your own traditions. Too Separate is not good. In parts of Europe we see this problem, where immigrant populations are not assimilating into the new country, it seems to be causing problems. There is a balance somewhere in the middle I think.

If we all respect each others cultures then there should be no problem adapting to America, but the word assimilate has definite anglo connotations.

My enviornment was based on ethnicity. In Jewish culture at 14 a boy becomes a man, it many Latino cultures 15 is when the girl is presented to the world as available for marriage. My view of a 15 year old, which is a product of my ethnicity, gives me a view of 15 year oldsters quite different than others might view 15 year olds. That’s just one example.

I’m a guy from the urban ghetto, and regarding the “melting pot” idea; that no longer holds true, I’m afraid. We are less of a melting pot and more a colorful mosaic whose edges blend and bleed.

Think of it as if you had a large, vibrant disk made of plastic, created of a million vibrant little tiles, fused. If you were to light the ends with a lighter, the would melt and swirl. That’s what I mean.

There is no single, unified America. The term “melting pot” was coined decades ago when immigration was not frowned upon and was considered the image of America. It was a term to describe the future of urban living; that, eventually, all cultural minorities would fuse together to form a super-culture. THAT was the future of the American “race” we had envisioned back then, one that took pride in its mish mash, Frankenstein’s monster-esque peculiarities.

Now? Well…

I will be fair and say I have not read everyone elses responses yet.
My immediate reaction the question is this. Ethnicity plays a large part in determining what culture one is raised in. And culture plays a huge part in the shaping of our identities. For this reason I would say that ethnicity and identity are entwined. I would also suggest that ethnicity is linked to oppression and oppression seriously shapes who a person is.

@JLeslie : No, it wasn’t meant to be synonymous. However, I don’t think ethnicity alone determines personality or behavior. I mean, I don’t know, I’m no expert on it. There could be studies about it that I’m unaware of that prove otherwise. Seems to me it’s culture and environment which have the most impact on a person’s personality and behavior.

@ubersiren I agree environment is the big one for me. But, if a particular ethnic group is in the same environment it is hard to separate. If you take a Mexican girl and raise her in WASPy New England, she is going to have more in common with people in New England than in Mexico. But, even that is a ridiculous statement because people in Mexico come in all different shapes and sizes and ethnicities and income levels. I think we understand each other though.

It’s fairly akin to dog breeds. It can go either way. Mostly it’s a matter of cultural upbringing, though.

@delirium : Good call- I thought that, too.

How is ethnicity different than culture? Ethnicity is not a race, it’s a cross-section of people with different cultural traditions.