What is the difference between race and ethnicity?

The general distinction between these two concepts is that
race is made up of physical traits while ethnicity is made up of cultural traits.  Both
of these concepts are socially constructed and it can be very difficult at times to
determine what race a person is or what ethnicity they are.  Even so, we can generally
say that race can be determined by looking at a person’s physical characteristics while
ethnicity is determined by looking at their cultural
traits.

We place people into given races based solely on
their physical appearance.  All people with dark skin and tightly curled hair tend to be
seen as “black.”  People with skin that is browner and with straight black hair are
called “Hispanic” or “Asian” depending on some other characteristics.  You can tell a
person’s race by looking at them (although you may be mistaken as, for example, Asians
and Hispanics can look similar.  This is not a stereotype; it is my personal experience
of my race being mistaken by many people.).

We place people
into ethnic categories based on their culture.  People of different races can have the
same ethnicity.  People of the same race can have different ethnicities.  A “black”
person from the Dominican Republic is ethnically Hispanic or Dominican while a “black”
person from the US is American.  Almost all American citizens can be seen as having the
same ethnicity as we tend to have practically identical cultural traits even though we
are from different races.

Thus, race is physical and
inherited while ethnicity is cultural and learned.