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A review essay on books by (1) Marco Heinz, Ethnizitat und ethnische Identitat. Eine Begriffsgeschichte ([Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity. A Conceptual History] Bonn: Holos Verlag, 1993); & (2) Veit-Michael Bader, Rassismus, Ethnizitat, Burgerschaft. Soziologische und philosophische Uberlegungen ([Racism, Ethnicity, Citizenship. Sociological and Philosophical Considerations] Munster: Westfalisches Dampfboot, 1995). Heinz contributes to the debate on ethnicity by tracing the concepts of ethnic identity & ethnicity in US sociology & social anthropology, starting with Chicago school social-psychological theories. He describes changing attitudes toward assimilation, the development of interpretations of ethnicity as dynamic, & the status of sociobiological definitions of ethnicity. Bader examines the problematic of ethnicity in connection with questions of racism & citizenship, understanding ethnicity as complex & contingent. He relates ethnicity to social structures & inequality & distinguishes between such configurations as ethnic categories, ethnic habitus, ethnic identity, & ethnic interest, noting ramifications for conceptualizing ethnic conflict & political rights. E. Blackwell

THE SOVIET POPULATION COMPRISES NUMEROUS NATIONALITIES, BUT THERE ARE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION AS TO THE EXACT NUMBER. ONE AUTHOR CLAIMS THAT THERE ARE 128 TO 132 NATIONALITIES OR ETHNIC GROUPS LIVING IN THE SOVIET UNION. THE LAST OFFICIAL FIGURE WAS ISSUED BY THE CENTRAL STATISTICAL ADMINISTRATION IN INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 1970 CENSUS. AT THIS TIME THE ADMINISTRATION, IN CONSULTATION WITH NUMEROUS SCHOLARLY INSTITUTIONS; DETERMINED THAT 122 NATIONALITIES OR ETHNIC GROUPS RESIDED IN THE SOVIET UNION. COMPARABLE INFORMATION FOR THE 1979 CENSUS IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE WEST. CENSUS RESULTS ARE THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE SOVIET POPULATION. THE DISCUSSION IN THIS PAPER IS BASED LARGELY ON THE DATA FROM THE THREE CENSUSES (1959, 1970 AND 1979) TAKEN IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD. THE PAPER SUMMARIZES THIS DATA IN TERMS OF THEIR RELIABILITY, THE CHANGES IN COMPOSITION AND THE DISPERSION OF MAJOR NATIONALITIES THROUGHOUT THE SOVIET UNION.