race and ethnicity are not synonyms. Ethnicity is a group defined by the same origin, linguistic and cultural affinities, while race as distinction between men is a socially constructed concept that there would be biological differences between the ethnicities.
The word ethnicity is derived from the Greek ethnos, which means "people who have the same customs". Race is a biological concept applied to subgroups of a species. The human species has no subspecies or subcategories, and therefore it is not correct to say that there are different human races.
But there is still a socially constructed, commonsense understanding that different races correspond to the biological characteristics of ethnic groups. For example, the black race would be composed of those who have black skin, curly hair, among other phenotypic characteristics.
The difference between race and ethnicity is therefore that race determined a group by biological characteristics, while ethnicity speaks about cultural aspects. However, studies in sociology, anthropology and biology in the last century have contributed to deconstruct the discriminatory idea of the concept of race and retire the term as human classification.
Language is used as the primary classification factor for ethnic groups. There are a large number of multi-ethnic languages and certain ethnicities are multilingual.
Ethnic groups share a common origin, and exhibit a continuity in time, present a sense of common history, and project a future as a people.
This is achieved through the transmission from generation to generation of a common language, values, traditions and, in many cases, institutions.
Learn more about the meaning of Breed, ethnicity and read about the meaning, types and examples and stereotype.
Race and Ethnicity in Brazil
Brazil is considered a country with a huge ethnic miscegenation, such as indigenous peoples, Portuguese, Dutch, Italians, blacks, Japanese, Arabs, and so on. But it cannot be said that there is a racial difference among Brazilians, since the human race is one.
Each Brazilian region, due to its particular historical context, has a predominance of a certain ethnic group.
Migratory processes in Brazil were fundamental to the variety of Brazilian ethnicities. In addition to the cultural groups of immigrants, miscegenation allowed for the creation of ethnic groups typical of Brazil, such as caboclos and mulattos.
