The difference between the sociological and Cultural Studies analyses of race and ethnicity is crucial to an understanding of the way these categories are concerned in Cultural Studies as a discipline. According to Chris Barker:

The cultural studies perspective on race and ethnicity certainly acknowl¬edges the importance of the intersections of race, ethnicity and class. However, it has sought to avoid the reduction of these categories to class and the functions of capitalism. Instead cultural studies has tended to explore:

• the shifting character of cultural understandings of race and ethnicity in terms of representation;

• the cultural politics of race as a 'politics of representation';
• the changing forms of cultural identity associated with ethnicity;
• the intersections between class, race and gender;
• the cultural legacy of colonialism.

Moreover, the categories are also forms of identity formation: