The theis tries to show thnt ethnicity is, in a certain sense, an individual phenomenon that emerges in social interaction. Its methodology is focused on the individual and on the group and passes back and forth between the two, as units (1 analysis, in their interplay with their envi.r rtment. The environment referred to is natural and social, which in¬cledes the: actors, and the others' ethnic categories and cultural sets, aao the systems of paver into which they have been incorporated and which prescribe c, r. twin• politic economic, and social regulations toward their activities should conform. These are seen as reference systems providing variable alternatives, certain parts of which can be activated and employed by different individuals and groups as a reference for their actions in cerc a:in e:;c_ial end inter-ethnic relationships, based on plausible reasoning which rationally, morally and emotionally is jeat=i ied.