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Ethnicity in Couples and Families

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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Synonyms

Cultural identity

Introduction

Ethnicity, the concept of a group’s “peoplehood,” refers to a group’s common ancestry and history, through which people have evolved shared values and customs over the centuries. Based on a combination of race, religion, geography, political, and cultural history, ethnicity is retained, whether or not members realize their commonalities with one another. Its values are transmitted over generations by the family and reinforced by the surrounding community. Ethnicity is a powerful influence in determining identity. It patterns our thinking, feeling, and behavior in both obvious and subtle ways, although generally we are not aware of it. It plays a major role in determining how we eat, work, celebrate, make love, and die (McGoldrick et al. 2005).

Ethnicity is not, however, the only dimension of culture, and to understand it, we must pay attention to its intersection with race, social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, geography,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multicultural Family Institute, Highland Park, NJ, USA

    Nydia Garcia Preto & Monica McGoldrick

  2. Psychiatry Department, Rutgers University, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Highland Park, NJ, USA

    Monica McGoldrick

Authors
  1. Nydia Garcia Preto
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  2. Monica McGoldrick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nydia Garcia Preto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Schaumburg, IL, USA

    Mudita Rastogi

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Preto, N.G., McGoldrick, M. (2019). Ethnicity in Couples and Families. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_475

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