The Ethnicity Reader offers a comprehensive and challenging selection of readings in sociology, politics, international relations and race relations. It introduces the study of ethnicity, by providing an original approach to nationalism, multiculturalism and migration. This approach distinguishes this reader from others and makes it indispensable to those seeking to understand the relevance of ethnicity as one of the most prominent forces in the modern world.

Drawing on a wide range of examples, the selections examine theories of nationalism and consider issues of ethnic integration and conflict in the USA, Canada, Quebec, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Catalonia among other countries and regions. The reader, however, does not confine itself to the study of nationalism. Many of the selections deal with the role of ethnicity in groups which are not nationalist, but for which ethnicity is an important factor in the process of migration. The concept of ethnicity is therefore discussed both in relation to group rights in existing nation states and in relation to transnational communities in a globalized world.