ABSTRACT
Groups of people and their cultures are no longer segregated from larger social groupings. Through transportation, electronic media and continuous contacts with people of other cultures, we are in essence all parts of larger cultures. In this way, we all participate in mainstream culture at various levels of our own group identities. In identity construction, groups differentiate themselves from other groups, but they are not totally free to do this, because external forces have the power to set groups in different frames in which they can then practice their differentiation. For a better understanding of a group’s social identity construction, it is necessary to know some basics of the history of that group.
