The author based his study on the experiences of Malaysia and Latin America. The article challenges the view that expressions of ethnicity and class are inversely proportional to one another, and that, with the rise of capitalist economies and their associated classes, ethnicity as the more “retrogressive” mode of organization will necessarily wane, but proposes that each may play an active and complementary role in the same society. The genesis of class is to be sought in the social infrastructure, a function of elemental economic and/or political resources and interests. A perception of these interests and the life-chances with which they are associated creates a sense of awareness, which may reach the level of a powerful ideology and lead to social conflict. [Download]