Dictionary

de-ethnization en · NOUN

Etymology

From de- + ethnization.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The act or process of ceasing to be, or of causing (a group) to cease to be, an ethnicity or a distinct people.
   • Among the concrete reasons for the rapid de-ethnization of immigrants, Fishman cites the great appeal of the American mass culture, […] 1999, David R. Andrews, Sociocultural Perspectives on Language Change in Diaspora, →ISBN:
   • From its earlier position as the vernacular of an entire religio-ethnic community it is now the vernacular only of atypical sub-groups who have not participated in the de-ethnization and acculturation of the general Jewish community. 1991, Joshua A. Fishman, Yiddish: Turning to Life, →ISBN, page 143:
   • To question the wisdom or the necessity or the naturalness of the de-ethnization of immigrant populations strikes many as questioning the very legitimacy or the very possibility of America's national and cultural existence. 2010, Maggie Rivas-Rodríguez, Emilio Zamora, Beyond the Latino World War II Hero, →ISBN, page 184:
2. (uncountable) The act or process of severing or losing ethnic ties.
   • The separation of religion from life as a result of secularization, ritualization, and organizational primacy is what is most fundamentally involved in this retreat. Indeed, the forces leading to the de-ethnization of formerly ethnic religions […] 1972, Joshua A. Fishman, Language in Sociocultural Change, →ISBN, page 69:
   • Robins and Aksoy (2005) suggest that actually transnational media, and satellite television in particular, work in association with the process of de-ethnization and de-mythologization of the 'homeland'. 2012, Media in Motion: Cultural Complexity and Migration, →ISBN, page 222:

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