L'etnia

Within the handbook edited by the same Author (see: “Sociologia delle differenze e delle disuguaglianze”), this chapter, after a definition of the concept of ethnicity, focus the attention on the process of social and political construction – or “invention” – of ethnic differences. Then it describes how ethnic differences – and in particular the fact of belonging to a minority – could be both a bond and a resource, sustaining or inhibiting the individual mobility. A special attention is devoted to the questions of ethnic prejudice and of ethnic discrimination, emphasising their centrality in the contemporary European society. Finally, the attention is placed on the relationship among human mobility, immigration and multi-ethnicity, with some considerations about topics such as the migrants’ exclusion and the citizenship.