ethnolysis

English

Etymology

From ethno- +‎ -lysis.

Noun

ethnolysis (uncountable)

1. (sociology, anthropology) The dissolution or loss of certain characteristics of an ethnic group.
   • 1977 March, Leo S. Klejn, “A Panorama of Theoretical Archaeology”, in Current Anthropology, volume 18, number 1, →DOI, page 6:

     Taking as a model the theory of “genetic centers” of N. I. Vavilov as adapted by Blanc (as a theory of “cosmolysis” or “ethnolysis”), Laplace constructed a theory of basal polymorphism, according to which Upper Palaeolithic industry was initially unspecialized (a “synthetotype,” innate in the designation borrowed from the paleontologists) and afterwards divided up into specialized complexes.

   • 1996, Louis Dupont, “Planning in Practice in the French West Indies”, in Development Planning: The Test of Facts, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 179:

     As regards the tourism function rate, experts generally adopt the principle that if the rate exceeds 100, visitors are dominant and impose their habits and culture on their hosts. In this case we observe the phenomenon of ethnolysis, which is well-known to sociologists.