| Ethnicity | Definition |
| ACCULTURATION | is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups come into continuous firsthand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be altered, but the groups remain distinct. |
| ADAPTIVE STRATEGY | is used by anthropologist Yehudi Cohen to describe a society’s system of economic production. Cohen argued that the most important reason for similarities between two (or more) unrelated societies is their possession of a similar adaptive strategy. |
| ASSIMILATION | the process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture |
| BARRIO | is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood. The word has come into use in English mostly through the large Hispanic populations on both coasts of the United States |
| CHAIN MIGRATION | refers to the mechanism by which foreign nationals are allowed to immigrate by virtue of the ability of previous adult immigrants who gain citizenship to send for their adult relatives. It is often used by immigrants from developing world countries seekin |
| CULTURAL ADAPTATION | adjusting a translation based on the cultural environment of the target language |
| CULTURAL SHATTERBELT | a politically unstable region where differing cultural elements come into contact and conflict |
| ETHNIC CLEANSING | At one end it is virtually indistinguishable from forced emigration and population exchange while at the other it merges with deportation and genocide. |
| ETHNIC CONFLICT | is a war between ethnic groups often as a result of ethnic nationalism. They are of interest because of the apparent prevalence since the Cold War and because they frequently result in war crimes such as genocide. |
| ETHNIC ENCLAVE | is a neighborhood, district, or suburb which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area. Sometimes an entire city may have such a feel. Usually the enclave revolves around businesses that are run by the members of the community. |
| ETHNIC GROUP | a group identified on the basis of religion, color or national origin |
| ETHNIC HOMELAND | is the concept of the territory to which an ethnic group holds a long history and a deep cultural association with (the country in which a particular national identity began) |
| ETHNIC LANDSCAPE | is an expression of people's idea and work; illustrating intrinsic understanding and relationship of people to their fellow beings and environment |
| ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOOD | a neighborhood, district, or suburb which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area |
| ETHNICITY | identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions |
| ETHNOCENTRISM | regarding one's own culture as being superior to others and judging other cultures from the perspective of your own culture
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| GHETTO | during the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live by because of social, legal, or economic pressure |
| PLURAL SOCIETY | a situation in which two or more culture groups occupy the same territory but maintain their separate cultural identities |
| RACE | identity with a group of people descended from a common ancestor |
| SEGREGATION | separation of people of different races or ethnic groups in schools, housing, public facilities for purposes of discrimination |
