ABSTRACT
This chapter approaches the labyrinth of conceptual problems connected with national identity and ethnicity by proceeding from the most basic or elementary ethnic group to the most inclusive group, the nation. It argues that the concepts of ethnicity and national identity should be defined without legal characteristics. Thus, ethnic groups or nations are different entities from states; they are groups with a special kind of cultural identity. The key concept in the study of ethnicity is that of an ethnic group constituting a social group which is orientated in terms of shared language or common historical fate. Stating that ethnic groups are social groups based on imagination may entail that ethnic groups are merely so-called imagined communities in contradiction to real ones. The evolution of ethnic groups has been studied in connection with the growth of national identities in a number of countries, especially in European ones.
