Exercise 2 solution

(a) Ethnicity. The Ethnic group page defines an ethnic group as "a group of humans who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes", and lists language, culture, ancestry and religion. The neighbours seeing the family that way fits Barth's external ascription together with self-identification. It is about construction (membership is negotiated) and also about effects (how others treat the family).

(b) Ethnicity or race, depending on the form; the chapter's example is about identification, so it is closest to ethnicity and the census. The chapter reports 13.5 million non-Hispanic Americans identifying as more than one race in 2021 and a 127 percent rise over the 2010s. This is mostly about construction: the categories offered and the way people choose among them change. The page does not say whether the rise reflects new people or new willingness to tick a box, so no more should be claimed.

(c) Gender. The Social construction of gender page says gender is learned through socialisation from early childhood and reinforced through education, family and media. Both construction (the rule is made by people) and effects (it shapes what the girl does) apply.

(d) Not clearly any of the three from the facts given; it depends on what the name signals. The Discrimination page says recruiters reportedly spend about six seconds on an initial résumé review and that a name is among the six things they focus on most, and that France bans viewing names when screening initial lists. A name might signal ethnicity, race or gender, so the honest answer is to say which signal you think it carries and why. This one is mainly about effects.

A good answer names a supporting sentence for each part and does not claim more than the chapter says.