Omi And Winant Racial Formation Summary

In the first chapter of Racial Formation in the United States, Michael Omi and Howard Winant discuss the topic of ethnicity, its relation to race and its evolution in the United States during the twentieth century. The concept of ethnicity is described as a group's culture that follows certain traditions, speaks a certain language and sometimes practices a certain religion. In this chapter, Omi and Winant conclude that ethnicity was a socially constructed idea that determined how much whiteness a group had. In other words, it was a way the majority could see how, besides the group's skin color, could be assimilated into the majority.
With this background in mind, the authors then discuss the ethnicity paradigm and the phases it underwent throughout