ABSTRACT
The recent attitudes and behavior of working-class Americans, sometimes called "ethnics" for short, have deeply shocked and bewildered many acute commentators. Ethnicity refers to a cluster of cultural factors that define the sociogram of the person rather than the racial or class connections of that person. In a sense, the concept of ethnicity closely emulates the concept of race; for race, unlike class, is based upon ascription rather than achievement. The concept of ethnicity is not only an attempt to simulate the strategy of the blacks for gaining equality through struggle, it also is patterned after the main tactic of the Jews for gaining equality through education. Within the political framework of mass society, it might be that ethnicity functions as a right-wing manifestation against the breakup of community. The rise of ethnicity as a basic concern and a root concept should not be dismissed, nor should it be celebrated.
