Ethnicity Vs. Culture: When To Use Each One In Writing?

In the current socio-political climate, people often throw around the words ethnicity and culture, especially on social media. However, very few people understand the differences between ethnicity and culture. Read this “ethnicity vs. culture” post to learn more about these words. 

Both words refer to topics in Sociology. However, ethnicity is a division of groups of people based on unique characteristics like their ancestry, race, language, religion, and cultural identity. In contrast, culture is a social phenomenon that explains the aspects of a particular societal group.

You can use various characteristics to classify human beings. However, what are these characteristics called? Are they ethnicity or culture? You now have an idea, and detailing more on the definitions and applications will let you know when to use each word.

Definitions Of Ethnicity And Culture

These sociological terms are pretty challenging to differentiate. However, we discovered their definitions are a great way to find their distinctions. So, here are the definitions for ethnicity and culture:

Definition Of Ethnicity

Ethnicity is a person’s identification based on their ancestry, social and cultural identity, race, language, country of origin, religion, dressing, food patterns, and physical appearance. Therefore, a group of people of the same ethnicity relate to each other based on their historical, cultural, genealogy, social, and physical traits.

Here is an example in a sentence, “My adopted parents know very little about my ethnicity and do not care to learn.” Another definition for ethnicity is a category of people with common characteristics, like nationality or origin. In a sentence, “My ethnicity is not similar to my husband’s.”

Definition Of Culture

Culture is the social way of behaving among human beings. It includes characteristics like societal and traditional practices passed through generations. It also includes people’s backgrounds, lifestyles, music, values, and other habits. An example in a sentence is, “Ann always boasts about her culture.”

Another definition of culture is “a set of predominating attitudes and behaviors that characterize a group of people or an organization.” In simpler terms, culture refers to the values and goals of a group, especially a particular business or company. For example, “The new manager wants to change the corporate culture at BMW.”

In anthropology, culture refers to “any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not explicitly concerning human beings.” In a sentence, “It is part of the cat family’s culture to protect each other.”

In Biology or Bacteriology, culture means “the product of cultivating microorganisms of bacteria in a nutrient medium, like agar and gelatin.” For example, “The bacterial culture in the petri dish is ready for experimenting.”

Culture is also a collective noun for a group of bacteria. In a sentence, “The doctor will test the culture to diagnose your condition.”

In cartography, culture refers to “the details on a map, like symbols for towns, parallels, roads, and meridians, that do not represent natural features of a delineated area.” For example, in a sentence, “The assignment is to highlight the culture on the map and explain its significance.”

Ethnicity Vs. Culture: What Is The Difference?

The main difference between these terms is that people acquire culture through interactions with relatives and their society. In contrast, people acquire their ethnicity at birth. So, culture can be learned, but ethnicity cannot. Also, culture is subject to change, but ethnicity is not.

Therefore, an Italian can claim an American culture because he was raised among or by Americans. However, the same person cannot claim an American ethnicity because they are born Italian.

Another difference is that culture is not necessarily dependent on a country. However, people from certain countries may have specific cultures they learn from or adopt from the environment. On the other hand, ethnicity is highly dependent on nationality. For example, a person’s race characterizes their ethnicity.

Additionally, culture is synonymous with words like customs and habits. In contrast, ethnicity is synonymous with nationality and nation. Finally, ethnicity includes culture because cultural elements like food preferences and religion may be part of a specific ethnicity. However, culture does not include ethnicity.

How To Properly Use Ethnicity And Culture In A Sentence

As complicated as these words seem, at first sight, the section below should be sufficient to help you understand their differences. However, this section is for you if you are still not confident about using these words in sentences. Here are guidelines for using “ethnicity” and “culture” in sentences:

How And When To Use The Word Ethnicity

Use this word as a noun when referring to people’s ideas, customs, social, and behavioral characteristics in a particular society. For example, “I have the utmost respect for your ethnicity.”

Since it is a noun, you can use its plural form (ethnicities). For example, “This practice will help my students learn more about their ethnicities.”

However, when using it in general contexts, you can consider it an uncountable noun without a plural form. Sometimes, people use the word ethnicity to refer to something foreign. However, this is INCORRECT.

When using this word in spoken conversations, you may benefit from knowing its pronunciation. So, the right pronunciation for ethnicity is “/eth-nis-i-te/.” You can master its pronunciation by breaking it into four syllables, “eth-nic-i-ty.”

How And When To Use The Word Culture

Use the word “culture” as a noun in the following contexts:

• When referring to bacteria grown in a nutrient medium
• When referring to the ideas, behaviors, and characteristics of a particular group
• When referring to a company’s defining characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes
• When referring to a person’s social circumstance
• A specific area of interest
• A person’s character

Additionally, you can use it as a verb when describing “creating or maintaining an artificial environment suitable for the growth of plants.” In a sentence, “A fantastic example of culture is pruning, and preparing seeds for planting.”

As a noun, this word can be countable or uncountable. This means you can use it as it is, even in a plural context or its plural form (cultures). For example, “I encountered many cultures during my year-long European trip.”

The correct pronunciation for culture is “/kuhl-cher/.” So, you can break it into its two syllables, “cult-ture,” when learning how to say it.

List Of Examples Of Ethnicity And Culture In Sentences

There is so much you can learn about these words. However, the best part about learning new vocabulary is reading sentence examples. So here are a few:

Example sentences of the word ethnicity

1. You should not use ethnicity to set people apart but to allow them to earn from each other.
2. The teacher assigned an assignment to her class to help them learn more about their ethnicity.
3. I always wanted to research the roots of my ethnicity.
4. Growing up with siblings from different ethnicities helped me learn a lot.
5. My mother dislikes when we talk about stereotypes of our ethnicity.

Example sentences of the word culture

1. I wish my mother were more interested in learning about our culture.
2. How long did it take for James to adapt to his new culture?
3. BBC aired an explosive industry that showed the world the disturbing business culture at the largest American corporations.
4. Cultures change almost as dramatically as laws change.
5. Do you know that social media is a tool for teaching culture?

Conclusion

Ethnicity and culture are closely related words. However, they have significant differences that this article explains. Like “ethnicity” and “culture,” we aim to help you understand the differences and similarities between confusing English words. So, let us know if you learned something new from this post and if it is helpful.