Sociological Spectrum
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Introduction: Race and Ethnicity-A Global
Perspective
Cheryl B. Leggon
To cite this article: Cheryl B. Leggon (1999) Introduction: Race and Ethnicity-A Global
Perspective, Sociological Spectrum, 19:4, 381-385, DOI: 10.1080/027321799280082
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Introduction :
Race and Ethnicity Ð A Global Perspective
CHERYL B. LEGGON
Department of Sociology, W ake Forest U niversity, W inston-Salem, North
Carolina, U SA
As the twentieth century ends, there is a resurgence of ethnic
conict throughout the world. Among the most intense ethnic
conicts are those on the continent of Africa between the
Rwandan Hutus and Rwandan Tutsis (Duke 1996). The conict
between the Serbians and ethnic Albanians has resulted in the
deaths of approximately 10,000 ethnic Albanians (New York
Times 1999). Since NATO troops arrived in June 1999, 40 percent
or 80,000 of the estimated 200,000 Serbs living in Kosovo have
left (Hedges 1999). It is important to note that the ramications
of these conicts extend far beyond their immediate geographic
boundaries—especially in a global economy.
Race and ethnicity are both social constructs, that is, products
of human perception and classication (Cornell and Hartmann
1998:23). Both race and ethnicity refer to groups that are distin-
guished by socially selected traits : physical traits for race and
cultural traits for ethnicity (Wilson 1973). Historically, race and
ethnicity have been fundamental organizing principles for most
colonial societies. Race has played this role in South Africa and
the United States, and ethnicity has done so in Canada and
Belgium. As social constructs, race and ethnicity are not only
historical products, but are also changing over time as a result
of the human interaction that created them (Cornell and Hart-
mann 1998).
Race is not a biological category because one or more bio-
logical or genetic criteria cannot be used to create a set of cate-
gories that are mutually exhaustive such that each and every
human being can be placed into only one category. In fact, the
I wish to express my appreciation to all of the authors for their contributions to this special
issue. Also, thanks to Willie Pearson, Jr., and Jack Niemonen for their insightful comments on
drafts of this introduction. The support and encouragement of Thomas Calhoun, Jay Corzine,
and Jackie Eller are greatly appreciated.
Address correspondence to Cheryl B. Leggon, Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7808,
Winston-Salem, NC 27109. Email: leggon@ wfu.edu.
Sociological Spectrum, 19: 381–385, 1999
Copyright Ó 1999 Taylor & Francis
0273-2173/ 99 $12.00 1 .00 381
382 C. Leggon
biological variation within groups called races is often greater
than the variation between such groups (Leggon 1979). The
major signicance of race is not biological but social and poli-
tical, insofar as race is used as the primary line of demarcation
separating ‘‘we’’ from ‘‘they’’ and, consequently, becomes a
basis for distinctive treatment of one group by another (Rose
1981). An ethnic group is a subpopulation within a larger society
that claims a kinship and common history and one or more
symbols that represent those claims (Schermerhorn 1970).
Sometimes these claims include a common homeland that
comes to symbolize a large familial kinship bond (Cornell and
Hartmann 1998:19). Ethnicity embodies values, attitudes, aspira-
tions, and behavior patterns (Deng 1997). Most important,
perhaps, is that an ethnic group consciously denes and iden-
ties itself in a particular way on the basis of claims that they
make about themselves and that distinguish them from other
groups that make di erent claims. Ethnicity is not static ; rather,
it is constantly evolving. Yancey, Ericksen, and Juliani (1976)
described ethnicity as an emergent phenomenon because it
depends on the specic historical circumstances in which it
emerges and develops in a given society.
The meanings of race and ethnicity are dynamic in at least
two ways : rst in terms of their signicance for a given society
and second for their economic, political, and social conse-
quences. Both race and ethnicity can be described as ‘socio-
historical concepts’ because their meanings are shaped by the
social relations and historical context in which they are embed-
ded (Omi and Winant 1999). The articles in this special issue of
Sociological Spectrum, ‘‘Race and Ethnicity : A Global Per-
spective,’’ analyze the dynamics whereby racial and ethnic iden-
tities are forged and remade and the signicance of these
identities in diverse societies.
Stanton K. Te t’s (1999) article explores the process of
panethnogenesis (i.e., the formation of a panethnic identity ‘‘to
cope with economic, political, and cultural changes experienced
by politically dominated ethnies lying within the territories of
nation-states’’). Te t’s argument is twofold : rst, that through
this process heretofore separat e ethnies come to dene their
new or present common identity as an ‘‘emblem of predicament
and interest ’’ as opposed to shared historical identity and,
second, that the survival of the separate ethnies depends on
panethnic solidarity.
Introduction 383
From a sociology of knowledge perspective, Jack Niemonen
(1999) examines how the concept of cultural pluralism is used in
contemporary discourse— both academic and popular. He
argues that cultural pluralism fails as a scientic concept
because it lacks conceptual precision and analytical rigor and is
based on a series of assumptions that are difficult to prove or
disprove. Like Te t (1999), Niemonen acknowledges that the for-
mation of ethnic and racial groups is prompted in part by larger
political, economic, and social forces.
Tony N. Brown (1999) explores the preference for racial sel-
dentication among African Americans in Detroit, Michigan.
Analyzing data from the Detroit Area Surveys of 1971 and 1992,
Brown’s ndings indicate ‘‘that there is something systemic
about the forces that lead people to choose emergent labels.’’
These forces include exclusion from mainstream society, a sense
of transition and change in the structure of race relations, and
uncertainty about the future of race relations.
According to Christopher Guillebeau (1999), the success of
affirmative action programs is determined in large measure by
how racial groups are dened. Comparing and contrasting affir-
mative action programs in South Africa, Brazil, and the United
States, he argues that in the United States affirmative action is
often couched in dichotomous terms as a Black–White issue. In
contrast, multiple distinctions based on color— such as in
Brazil— make it more problematic to design and implement a
successful affirmative action program.
Drawing on her personal experiences of growing up in
Turkey, Pinar Batur-VanderLippe (1999) denes global racism as a
process : ‘‘a continuous chain of cross-cultural and cumulative
actions and interactions.’’ Racism becomes global when the
micro-level or everyday experiences are linked with the macro
level of racist concepts and actions and are maintained by pre-
judice, discrimination, and violence both cross culturally and
over time. Global racism is reinforced by old and new colonial-
ism. Batur-VanderLippe, Te t (1999), and Niemonen (1999) note
that despite dissent among researchers about the process by
which racial identity develops among subordinate racial groups,
there is a consensus that racial identity depends on the syn-
ergistic interaction of structural variables over the life course.
Specically, these structural variables include common political,
economic, and social treatment ; shared religion ; and group
ties—both real and imagined.
384 C. Leggon
According to W. E. B. DuBois, ‘‘the problem of the twentieth
century is the color line’’ (DuBois 1903). If present trends con-
tinue, then the problem of the twenty-rst century will be both
race and ethnicity. The meanings and signicance of race and
ethnicity change through dynamic interaction and discourse. I
hope that this special issue of Sociological Spectrum contributes
constructively to this discourse.
REFER ENCES
Batur-VanderLippe, Pinar. 1999 ‘‘Centering on Global Racism and Antiracism : From
Everyday Life to Global Complexity.’’ Sociological Spectrum 19:467–484.
Brown, Tony N. 1999. ‘‘Predictors of Racial Label Preference in Detroit : Examining
Trends from 1971 to 1992.’’ Sociological Spectrum 19:421–442.
Cornell, Stephen and Douglas Hartmann, 1998. Ethnicity and Race, Making Identities in
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Duke, Lynne. 1996. ‘‘Size, Scope of Hutu Crisis Hotly Debated.’’ Washington Post,
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Introduction 385
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