General and different signs of a tribe of a nation of a nationality. Ethnic communities: tribe people nation
Earth. inhabit many peoples at different stages of socio-economic and cultural development. They represent a special kind of social community of people, determined by a combination of such features as a common language and territory, closeness of culture and way of life, common historical development and, in some cases, belonging to the same state.
According to the dynamics of the formation of peoples as ethnic groups accepted in Russian ethnology, tribes and groups of tribes, characteristic of the primitive communal system, belong to their earliest type. Slave-owning and feudal formations are associated with such a type of ethnic group as nationality (some researchers believe that each of these formations is characterized by its own types of ethnic groups). With the development of commodity-money (capitalist) relations and the strengthening of economic ties between peoples, such a type of ethnos as a nation also arises.
Due to uneven socio-economic and political development different countries and regions, three types of ethnic groups currently coexist on Earth: tribe - people - nation.
Historically the most early type ethnic groups - tribe. The tribes consisted of several (initially, probably, two or three) clans - social cells connected by blood ties. The tribes of the era of the primitive communal system (except for its final stage) were characterized by the absence of social stratification.
At present, tribes in their pure form are very rare, and various researchers use the term "tribe" to designate ethnic groups with very different levels of socio-economic and cultural development. Some of these "tribes" number millions, others - hundreds or tens of thousands, others - only thousands or even hundreds of people. Only a few (the most backward and smallest) ethnic groups now have the features inherent in real tribes, more often ethnic groups retain only some features of the tribal structure. Usually modern "tribes" are already included in one form or another degree in the system of feudal or even capitalist relations and, like nationalities or nations, break up into social groups. The features of the tribal organization are preserved primarily among nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples, which researchers most often include among the so-called tribes.
In the process of the decomposition of the primitive communal system, the common interests of many tribes led to the emergence of their alliances, such as, for example, the Iroquois League in North America, the alliance of the three Aztec tribes in Mexico, the alliance of the Zulu tribes in South Africa, the Tatar-Mongols in Eurasia. The formation of these unions, accompanied by the development of economic intertribal and cultural ties, led to a gradual mixing of tribes, to the replacement of former kinship ties with territorial ties. So was born new form ethnic groups - nationality: a historically established linguistic, territorial, economic and cultural community of people that precedes the nation.
The peoples of the slave-owning era (ancient Egyptian, ancient Hellenic, etc.) were the first to form. In Europe, the process of formation of nationalities was completed mainly during the period of feudalism (Old Russian - from the East Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Drevlyans, Vyatichi, etc., Polish - from the Slavic tribes of the Pomeranians, Visslans, Mazovshans, etc., German - from the Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Alemans, etc. ., northern French and Provencal - from the Gallic tribes, Roman colonists and Germanic tribes of the Franks, Visigoths and Burgundians mixed as a result of the conquest of one by the other, etc.).
In the process of the formation of nationalities, as economic and cultural ties between them strengthened, the language of one (usually more numerous or more developed) became common, and the rest of the tribal languages were reduced to the role of dialects or disappeared altogether; a certain territorial, cultural and economic community was formed. However, this community (especially in the economic sense) was still unstable. One of the indicators of the existing community was a new single ethnonym, under which the nationality became known to its neighbors.
With the development of economic and cultural ties, the economic disunity characteristic of nationalities is eliminated, and they are transformed into nations. The features inherent in nationalities acquire a new quality: nations are distinguished by a stable community of territory, economy and culture, a common language; Finally, there are common features national character, a clearer ethnic identity.
Usually nations are the result of the ethnic development of the peoples whose name they tend to retain. However, nationalities cut by state borders often give rise to several ethnic formations (for example, the Portuguese and Galicians, Germans and Austrians, etc.). The ancient Russian nationality served as the common root of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities, which subsequently developed into a nation. It is not uncommon for several nationalities to participate or participate in the formation of one nation (for example, the Indonesian nation is formed from Javanese, Madurese and other nationalities). There are widespread cases of the formation of ethnographic groups during a long separation of a part of the people from the main ethnic mass (as a result of migration processes, changes in state borders, etc.). There are very distinct groups that differ in confessional terms.
It should be emphasized that the trinomial division of ethnic groups (tribe - nationality - nation) does not reflect the entire diversity of forms of ethnic communities existing on Earth. The picture is complicated by the transitional ethnic groups living in many countries (especially they are characteristic of countries of immigration) - immigrants of the first, second or later generations, partially subjected to assimilation by the main nation. They have not yet completely broken away from their people home country and did not completely merge into the ethnic group of the host country (such groups include, for example, Germans, Swedes, Italians, etc. in the USA and Canada). Transitional groups are also formed in the zone of ethnic borders, where two or more peoples come into contact. A characteristic feature of these groups is a dual ethnic identity.
This division does not take into account the existence of ethnic communities of various levels, which, for example, include the Cossacks - a separate group of Russians. The same set of people can simultaneously be part of several ethnic communities of different ranks, which creates their kind of “hierarchy”.
Any, even the most cohesive and consolidated, peoples have groups that retain differences from the main ethnic array. Such groups, called ethnographic, are territorially isolated parts of a nationality or nation, whose culture and way of life retain their originality (they have their own dialects or dialects, have specific material and spiritual culture, may differ religiously, etc.). Ethnographic groups are usually formed during the assimilation of an ethnic group by a nationality or nation, or when tribes merge into a nationality, when these tribes still retain some character traits. There are also communities that cover a whole group of peoples, the so-called meta-ethnic or supra-ethnic communities. They unite several peoples who have elements of a common self-consciousness based on ethnogenetic proximity or long-term economic and cultural interaction, and in a class society - on political ties. Such communities include, for example, Slavic, Romanesque, Mongolian and other peoples, close not only in languages, but, to a certain extent, in culture and way of life.
There are also ethno-religious meta-ethnic communities. For example, Hinduism has had a huge impact on the entire social and cultural life of the multilingual peoples of South Asia, and now the Hindu peoples of this region undoubtedly form a certain community.
Within the framework of multinational states, ethno-political communities have been and are being formed, which can also be classified as meta-ethnic with a certain degree of conventionality. During the formation of such communities, there is a gradual socio-economic and cultural cohesion of all or almost all the peoples of the corresponding country, while their ethnic and linguistic rapprochement is much less pronounced.
History shows that the processes in which several small ethnic groups merged into one large or small ethnic community dissolved into the composition of a large people, i.e., the processes of ethnic unification, took place in the most diverse regions and in different socio-economic conditions. As for the opposite processes of ethnic division, they were especially characteristic of the early period of human development: population growth led to the division of tribes and to the settlement of people along globe. Only in some regions of the world do ethno-separation processes continue to play a significant role even now. Thus, the migration of Europeans to America, Australia and partly Africa was accompanied by the formation of new ethnic groups there. New peoples also arise when united ethnic groups are divided by changing state borders, an example of this is the emergence of new states (CIS).
Ethnic processes are very diverse, multi-planned and difficult to study in depth. Until relatively recently, despite their obvious importance for understanding the geopolitical situation in various regions of the world, they have not received sufficient attention both here and abroad.
Among the ethnic processes in ethnology, it is customary to distinguish two main types: ethnoevolutionary and ethnotransformational. The process is called ethno-evolutionary in the case when, with a change individual components the ethnos or any of its groups nevertheless remain themselves, i.e. their ethnic identity does not change; during the ethno-transformational process, self-consciousness changes and the ethnic identity of a person becomes different.
Depending on the predominance of centripetal or centrifugal tendencies, ethnic processes are divided into two main typological groups: ethnic unification and ethnic division. When characterizing specific types of ethnic processes in each of these groups, the processes can be, in their ethnic essence, both ethno-evolutionary, and ethno-transformational, and mixed, evolutionary-transformational.
The processes of ethnic unification are very different in nature, but they have some common features. First of all, any form of ethnic association is characterized by cultural and linguistic rapprochement of the persons involved in the process; differences between people are gradually leveled, and sometimes even completely destroyed.
Forms of ethnounification processes are different. Ethnologists distinguish five main types of ethnic association: ethnic fusion, ethnic consolidation, ethnic assimilation (and close to it ethnic conversion), interethnic integration, ethnogenetic mixing.
Ethnic fusion is the process of merging several previously independent peoples, related in language and culture, into a single new, more large ethnic group. Thus, the fusion of East Slavic tribes (Polyans, Severyans, Drevlyans, Volynians, Dulebs, White Croats, Ulichs, Tivertsy, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Polochan, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Ilmen Slovenes) into the Old Russian people can be called ethnic fusion.
The process of ethnic fusion proceeds at different speeds, depending on the complex of factors influencing this process, and in particular on the level of social and ethnic development of the country in which the process is taking place, the intensity of economic and other ties between its individual parts. The higher the level of development of the country and the closer the connection between its regions, the faster the ethnic fusion occurs.
The degree of linguistic, cultural, religious and racial proximity of the groups participating in the process is also very significant for the intensity of the flow of ethnic fusion. As indicated in the definition of ethnic fusion, this process usually involves related communities, but the degree of kinship can be different, and the closer it is, the faster the process.
Difficulty has some effect. ethnic structure of the population of the territory where the process is taking place, since too many small ethnic formations (even if they are very close to each other in linguistic and cultural terms) will undoubtedly slow down the process of ethnic fusion. I
For the ongoing processes of ethnic fusion in developing countries great importance has a written language in the emerging ethnic community, which can play important role in process intensification.
Of course, the acceleration of the process is possible only if a single dialect is chosen for the entire ethnic array participating in it (the presence of several literary forms can significantly complicate the situation).
The second type of ethnounifying processes is ethnic consolidation. - consists in the internal cohesion of a more or less significant ethnic group in the course of smoothing out the differences between the local groups within it. This process is characteristic of the vast majority of large and medium ethnic communities. For example, after the Russians formed in united people, for a long time there was a convergence of local groups in their composition (the population of Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and other lands). From tribal and local ethnic groups, new nationalities and nations are formed. For example, in Africa, recent tribal associations form such significant nationalities or even nations as the Hausa, Yoruba, for. The consolidation of many peoples of India, the Philippines and other Asian countries is proceeding rapidly.
Ethnic fusion and ethnic consolidation are two closely related processes. Over time, ethnic fusion turns into ethnic consolidation. Therefore, when studying a specific ethnic process, it is sometimes quite difficult to give it typological characteristics: whether it is the final stage of ethnic fusion or the initial stage of ethnic consolidation.
However, despite the unconditional connection between the processes of the two considered types, their essence is different: if the first of them is an ethno-transformational process and leads to a change ethnic identity, then the second process is ethno-evolutionary and does not lead to a change in self-consciousness.
The third type of ethno-unification processes - ethnic assimilation - is especially widespread in economically developed countries, and above all in those where there are many emigrants. It consists in the dissolution of a previously independent ethnic group or part of it in the environment of another, usually larger people. Thus, assimilation will be for one side - the assimilated - an ethno-transformational process, since their ethnic self-consciousness will change. For the other side - the assimilating people - ethnic assimilation will be an ethno-evolutionary process, since the self-consciousness of this ethnos remains the same.
The process captures various groups of the population: both national minorities, sometimes even having their own ethnic territory, and immigrants. In the latter case, the rate of assimilation depends on many factors: the proximity of the language and culture of immigrants and indigenous people, the degree of national cohesion of the newcomers, their preservation of political and cultural ties with their homeland, the nature of settlement in the host country (mixed or compact population, settling in cities or rural areas), racial differences, the attitude of the ruling circles of the country towards certain groups of immigrants, etc.
There is a difference between natural and forced assimilation. The first occurs in the process of contact between peoples and is determined by the very course of the socio-economic development of a particular country. Assimilation of the second type takes place in countries where nationalities are not equal. It is the result of the radical assimilation policy of the political elite of the so-called titular ethnic group, aimed at eradicating the language and culture of national minorities. Such a policy is carried out in relation to Russians in the Baltics by relic ethnic groups - Latvians and Estonians.
The assimilation process has an unequal speed, which depends on a combination of factors such as the size of the assimilated group, the nature of its settlement, the time spent in the assimilating environment, the occupation of the assimilated group and its economic ties with the main population of the territory, the social and legal status and Family status assimilated, the frequency of entering into mixed marriages, the presence or absence of contacts with the homeland (if we are talking about emigrant groups), the attitude towards the assimilated group from the side of the surrounding ethnic environment, the proximity of the assimilated and the assimilated by language, culture, religion, race, the ratio of the levels of culture of the assimilated minority and assimilating majority, the level of development of ethnic identity, etc.
The nature of the influence of most of these factors is obvious. But some require clarification.
Thus, at first glance, it may seem that the similarity of the economic activities of the assimilated and the assimilating should accelerate their convergence. In fact, the influence of this factor is contradictory. In most cases, similar occupations, of course, contribute to the intensification of the assimilation process: getting into an economic environment close to it, the assimilated group quickly merges with the assimilating group. However, sometimes the similarity of economic activities causes competitive clashes between the newcomer and the indigenous population, which can complicate the assimilation process.
Another factor to be noted is the marital status of the assimilated. On this basis, all emigrants (we are talking about men, since they are more likely to predominate among visitors) can be divided into three categories: married, arrived without families; married, who came with their families; single. Bachelors assimilate faster than anyone, marrying local girls. As for the people who brought their families to a new place of residence, they assimilate relatively slowly, since the old ethnic community is preserved in family cells, and sometimes even reproduced. The assimilation of emigrants who left their families in their homeland is even more difficult. Living with thoughts of returning to their native lands, they look at the host country as a temporary haven, which sooner or later will have to leave. Forced to adapt to local conditions, at the same time they do not want to dissolve in a new environment.
The process of assimilation is influenced by the ratio of the levels of culture of the contacting peoples. This process proceeds most rapidly, ceteris paribus, among groups settling among an ethnos of approximately the same level of culture as them. Assimilation proceeds quite quickly even in the case when the newcomers enter an environment slightly higher (but not very significantly) in terms of their level of culture. Finally, with sharp
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differences in the level of culture, especially when visitors are culturally superior to the local population, the process of assimilation is very difficult. ,
When two ethnic groups very close in language and culture (for example, Russians and Belarusians) interact in the assimilation process, this process is sharply intensified and acquires a number of features that bring it closer to the consolidation and fusion processes. It differs significantly from the usual assimilation process, when two unrelated or very distantly related peoples interact. This can be called ethnic conversion.
Another type of ethno-unifying processes is inter-ethnic integration, which consists in the interaction within a state or some large region of several ethnic groups that differ significantly in language and culture; interaction, which leads to the appearance of a number of common features between them. As a result of inter-ethnic integration, not ethnic groups are formed, but special inter-ethnic (meta-ethnic) communities, which in the long term may merge into a single people (or may never merge). These peculiar communities are a group of ethnic groups that have elements of a common self-consciousness (it can be based on long-term economic and cultural interaction, political ties, etc.).
Although inter-ethnic integration is basically an ethno-evolutionary process, since the self-consciousness of individual ethnic groups is preserved, the emergence of the rudiments of a common self-consciousness among meta-ethnic communities still allows us to speak of some very initial stage of ethnic transformation.
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"" "Cheche"? 5M in Processes of interethnic integration are inherent in all long-existing polyethnic state (for example, the Roman Empire).Naturally, with the collapse of a multinational state, the process of interethnic integration stops.
The fifth type of ethno-unifying processes is not often encountered today - ethnogenetic mixing, during which a new ethnos is formed by the merger of peoples who are not related by kinship. Sometimes this process, as it were, continues interethnic integration, but unlike it, it has an ethno-transformational, rather than ethno-evolutionary character. In turn, after the completion of the formation of a new ethnos in the main features, ethnogenetic mixing can turn into ethnic consolidation.
The processes of ethnogenetic mixing are most characteristic of Latin America, but in the past they also took place in other regions. Ethnogenetic mixing can be called the formation of the Bashkir ethnos, which was formed from both Turkic and Finno-Ugric groups, including both Mongoloid and Caucasoid elements.
Although the processes of ethnic division were especially pronounced in early stages human history, they go in a number of areas of the world and now. There are two types of ethnic separation processes: ethnic partition and ethnic separation.
During ethnic partitioning, a previously united ethnic group is divided into several more or less equal parts, and none of the new ethnic groups completely identifies itself with the old one (this process can to some extent be considered as the antipode of ethnic fusion). So, as a result of the dissection of the territory of the once united ancient Russian people by state borders, three peoples close to each other in language and culture, but completely independent peoples stood out from it: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
During ethnic separation, a part of it, usually a relatively small one, is separated from one or another people, which eventually turns into an independent ethnic group (this process can to a certain extent be considered the antipode of assimilation). Ethnic separation is caused by various reasons - the resettlement of some group of the original ethnic group, the political and state isolation of a small part of the people, the religious isolation of an ethnic group. For example, it was the resettlement in the 17th century. part of the Oirats to Russia led to the creation of the Kalmyk people.
An important role in the formation of many nations has been and continues to be played by political factors, and above all by state isolation. This applies, for example, to the Dutch, who broke away from their kindred Flemings. The formation of two separate states - Germany and Austria - led to the emergence of independent nations speaking the same language. Almost all Latin American nations developed within the framework of emerging states, and political boundaries became ethnic.
If ethnic partitioning is a purely ethno-transformational process, then ethnic separation is transformational only for that part of the original ethnos that separates into a separate people.
Sometimes processes of different types are going on simultaneously in the same mass of the population (for example, the ethnic consolidation of some people with the simultaneous assimilation of immigrant groups by them).
An ethnological survey of the peoples inhabiting the Earth, of course, requires a classification of their descriptions. Such descriptions make it possible to systematize peoples or groups of peoples according to a wide range of characteristics: geographical, anthropological, linguistic, economic and cultural, socio-economic, the nature of material and spiritual culture, religious affiliation, etc.
Some types of descriptions are based primarily on the study of the ethnicity of peoples, their origin and ways of formation, "for which the data of comparative historical linguistics, anthropology, systematized information about material and spiritual culture are of paramount importance. Others proceed from the analysis of phenomena characteristic of different peoples and their groups, regardless of ethnicity, the presence or absence of cultural contacts.First of all, these are signs of economic activity, which in the past depended to a large extent on natural and geographical conditions, ecology and to a large extent lesser degree from ethnic and cultural traditions. This is also the description of peoples in terms of the level of development of social relations, as well as religious affiliation.
The proposed descriptions (classifications) are based on the works of Russian ethnologists and ethnodemographers. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that not a single type of description gives a complete ethnological description of the people. 2.2.
All components of the social structure of society are mediated by man:
- - ethnic and demographic components are rooted in the biotic nature of the individual and represent the biotic in the social;
- - Settlement and stratification components - are objectively social, that is, generated in the civilizational field and formed as a result of the division of labor and the emergence of various forms and types of activities.
Consider the social structure of society, starting from the generic stage of its formation, that is, from ethnic background- clan, tribe, representing the initial social communities.
The demographic structure of society was already secondary, that is, it represented the social stratification of the ethnic group.
The ethnic structure of society. Clan, tribe, nationality, nation.
Genus and tribe. The first, specifically human form of community that replaced the herd way of life was the clan. The clan represented an association of blood relatives with a common origin, common customs and beliefs.
Genus was the first social education in the history of society, as it developed at two levels - ethnic and social, which led to the birth of a family, human reproduction, education and upbringing of children, care for the elderly. The clan was multifunctional, laying the foundations of the craft in the process of hunting and fishing, inventing and making devices for them, processing the extracted, equipping the places of residence.
The necessary conditions for the existence of the clan were communal ownership of a certain territory with hunting (fishing) grounds and their protection from external encroachments. The distribution in the clan was egalitarian, labor productivity was primitive.
A higher form of community of people in that historical time was a tribe.
Tribe . - association of several genera. Like the clan, the tribe was based on blood ties. However, the appearance of tribes marked the beginning of the dismemberment of a single multifunctional tribal community. The tribe carried only a part of socially significant functions related to the maintenance of customs, the strengthening of faith, the protection of the territory, the language of communication, and the economic unit remained tribal community. This fact laid the foundation for the separation of the ethnic social community - the tribe - from directly economic functions. With the emergence of the family (paired living), there was a tendency for the isolation of family relations, a tendency for the separation of consanguineous ties from ethnic ones.
Nationality - more high form social association than a tribe, which is a historically established linguistic, territorial, economic and spiritual community.
The need for intertribal economic and spiritual ties, the migration of the population, the struggle for territory contributed to the formation of an alliance of tribes. Private property was born, stronger tribes dictated their terms to the weak ones, class division began, kinship ties gave way to territorial ones and a new one appeared. social community- nationality. Nationality evolved historically for a long time. Its basis was a higher mode of production, economic, spiritual, linguistic and territorial community of life. The formation of states also contributed to the strengthening of the nationality, although in the process of historical development they could not coincide both territorially and in language. For example, France - Belgium, Sweden - Norway, Rus' - White Rus' - Little Rus'.
The nationality did not have the integrity of economic life, subsistence farming prevailed.
Nation. The formation of a nation is historical. It evolved through interrelated processes to form its own territory, establish and develop economic relations, national language, legal framework, state, mentality, culture. With the development of society and the state, economic and spiritual ties gradually strengthened, a national market arose, economic fragmentation was eliminated, and the scattered elements of a separate nationality united into a single social whole: nationalities developed into nations.
Historically, the emergence of nations has no single basis. Some nations on the planet arose as a result of transformations within one nationality (Swedes, British and some others European peoples), others - by rallying into a nation a number of peoples who are generally close in language and culture (the French nation was formed as a result of the merger of the northern French and Provencal peoples). It is typical for European nations to form them within the framework of centralized states on the basis of one or more ethnically close peoples, but some of them developed in conditions of political fragmentation (Italians, Germans). In the East and South-East of Europe, the formation of nations took place within multi-ethnic empires (Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Ottoman).
The nation is a unique historical formation of mankind. The uniqueness of the nation is due to the geographical and historical environment, mentality, originality of economic development, way of life, traditions, culture, state structure. Formed its own special image of spirituality, morality, national character and self-consciousness. However, there are no nations similar in all respects on the planet, although they may be in close territorial proximity, like Russians and Belarusians, Hungarians and Austrians, Turks and Bulgarians, Czechs and Slovaks. But geographical proximity only emphasizes national features, and does not erase them.
Signs of a nation. First sign- common territory.
The commonality of the territory is an important feature of the nation, since the territory is the formal space for people in which they historically live and carry out activities. Such concepts as "motherland", "fatherland", "country", "state" are essential in the territorial unity of the nation, but with their own conceptual specificity. At the same time, the residence of people in one territory does not in itself consolidate them into a single nation. A unique example in recent history that demonstrates the declarative nature of territorial unity is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), as well as the Union Independent States(CIS) is a non-confederal association of part of the republics of the former USSR. " Soviet people", "united nation", declared by the Soviet political system, its Communist Party, never became them, and the CIS states, after the collapse of the USSR, still do not find a common understanding in many respects social structure and life, although they constitutionally lived on the same territory. It is appropriate to recall the fact that the East Slavic tribes, and then the nationalities, occupied the territory of the European part of our country for a long time, nevertheless, the formation of the Russian and Ukrainian nations took place only in recent centuries, and the formation of the Belarusian nation could only be completed in the 20s gg. 20th century
Second sign- common language.
The national language is the speech and administrative language of people, understandable to the entire nation, entrenched in literature and jurisprudence. Only a linguistic community provides a full-fledged economic, managerial, scientific, pedagogical, defense and other life of the country.
However, it must be borne in mind that the language may be the same for several peoples, but they do not constitute a nation: Austria - Germany, Spain - Argentina, France - partly Belgium and Canada. The commonality of the language is considered in conjunction with other features of the nation.
Third sign- common economic life.
This is the essence of a nation. The point is not that the nation produces any single product, but that the industrial and economic specialization of the regions of the country, the strengthening of financial and trade relations within the state contribute to the unity of the nation, strengthening its international position, strengthening defense capability, etc. Russia, according to its Constitution, included 89 subjects Russian Federation. Currently, the process of consolidation of the subjects of the Federation is underway. According to the results of nationwide referendums in the subjects of the Federation, the Perm Region and the Komi-Permyatsky Region were merged. autonomous region V Perm region; Irkutsk Region and Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug to Irkutsk Region; from the Chita Region and the Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug to the Trans-Baikal Territory, several more federal unification processes are in the process of being resolved. Each subject of the Federation has its own economic features that allow them to participate in the planned economic life of the country. Specialization of regions in the economic sphere public life allows the state to build a unified economic policy meeting national needs and interests.
The fourth sign- common features of mentality and culture.
The mentality of a nation is a historical phenomenon, it is a reflection in the minds of the people of the peculiarities of its existence and the entire system of relations. The mentality represents the measure of the spiritual values of the nation. It manifests itself in the peculiarities of its national character, state structure, mores, customs, traditions, habits, inclinations; is reflected in music, in songs, in dances, in painting, in literature, in architecture, in language, in all kinds and types of activity. A special role belongs to the national identity, which is formed throughout the history of the formation and development of the nation, allowing people to proudly identify themselves in the national "We". Self-awareness of the nation is valued in essence - it is love for one's Motherland, internal civil position, readiness to serve the Fatherland with valor and defend it, the main thing is a satisfied sense of self-distinction from other nations: for example, the Germans have pedantry, the Americans have superiority, the Norwegians have thoroughness. We, the Russians, have inflexibility, bordering on complaisance, resurgent right-wing antiquity, historical catholicity. With regard to culture, it is necessary to note the fact that it reflects all the best in the nation. The culture of a nation is that valuable thing that it has created in its history in all spheres of public life and is worthily passed on from generation to generation. In this regard, Russia has something to be proud of: we were the first to conquer outer space, carry out a thermonuclear reaction, create an icebreaker fleet, develop rocket technology and zero gravity production technology, develop seaplane construction, implement laser location, founded the world's leading schools of ballet, chess, figure skating, sports dances on ice, etc.
Fifth sign- unity of legal norms, statehood.
Law in its essence historical phenomenon. It originated along with the birth of society, the formation of the state and developed as national independence was formed, in accordance with national characteristics, state structure and government. Law includes two levels - natural and positive. Natural law is objectified by the triad: formal equality, freedom and justice. Positive law represents legal dogma or law. A nation is a complex historical formation that requires substantive legal and state security, without which its formation and development is very problematic. The natural right of people whose national identity is fixed within the borders of the state comes to the fore. From the point of view of establishing formal equality, each representative of the nation has the same opportunity to realize their needs and abilities. Equality is the legal principle of the state formation of the nation, the national structure of the state, the norm of behavior of free individuals. With regard to freedom - the second criterion of natural law, this is a nationwide awareness by people of the necessary measure. Freedom is a form of the state structure of the nation, a form of the national structure of the state. In terms of justice - the third criterion of natural law, every individual, every subject of the national community, the nation as a whole uses this property of law to consolidate the value and significance in the national state system. The state must act as the guarantor of formal equality, freedom and justice for the entire nation. Natural law is reflected in positive law - legal norms, legal acts of the state: constitutions, laws, decrees, regulations that contribute to both a comprehensive national development, and the holistic functioning of the spheres of society: economics and ecology, management and pedagogy, science and art, medicine and physical culture, defense and public safety, including a wide range of intra-national relations.
Conclusion: nation is a social community that historically arises on the basis of a common economic life, language, territory, state structure, legal norms, mentality, and culture.
The difference between a nation and a nationality is that it is a more stable social community, and stability is given to it, first of all, by the state, economic and legal factors.
The specificity of the sociological approach to the study of ethnic groups lies, first of all, in the fact that, unlike ethnography, which has a pronounced historical and descriptive character, in sociology ethnic communities are considered as elements of the social structure of society , in close connection with other social groups - classes, strata, territorial communities and various social institutions. In this regard, the problem of ethnic stratification arises as an independent topic, since ethnicity, nationality in modern world, especially in our country, is an important indicator of the social position of the individual and his ethnic group as a whole. In addition, ethnic groups and relations are analyzed within the framework of the conceptual model adopted in sociology, which expresses the relationship of three main levels - culture, social system and personality. In other words, the life of an ethnic group is considered within the framework of system-structural representations, and the ethnic community, as one of the subsystems of society as a whole, is in connection and relations with other social subsystems and social institutions.
Features of culture and life of various ethnic groups are the subject of close study of ethnographers. In sociology, ethnographic material is used by scientists to build general theoretical concepts and typologies.
It should be noted that, until recently, sociologists have been little interested in the study of ethnic groups, which usually belonged to the field of so-called "social problems", which have a purely applied, practical value and not scientific and educational. Over the last 20-30 years the situation has changed radically. For a number of reasons - economic, political, sociocultural, psychological, demographic, etc., the issues of studying national-ethnic relations in the modern world have acquired such relevance and significance that this problem has become the object of large-scale research. -ny. The wave of national-ethnic conflicts that have swept the world in recent decades has prompted sociologists, as well as representatives of others social sciences, to build new explanations for the phenomenon of national-ethnic relations, which seemed to many scientists solved and explained, since the process of formation of national states in the leading countries of the world was completed. The aggravation of national-ethnic processes in the countries of the former USSR can be regarded as an integral part of this global process of "return to ethnicity", although here it certainly has its own characteristics.
It is customary to distinguish three main types of ethnic groups - a tribe, a nationality and a nation, differing from each other in terms of the level of development of culture, economy, knowledge, etc.
Tribe- this is a kind of association of people, which is inherent in primitive formations and is characterized by consanguineous ties between people. The tribe is formed on the basis of several clans or clans, leading common origin from one ancestor. People are united in a tribe also common religious beliefs- fetishism, totemism, etc., the presence of a common colloquial dialect, the beginnings political power(council of elders, leaders, etc.), common territory of residence. The leading form of economic activity at this historical stage was hunting and gathering.
Nationality differs from the tribal organization in a higher level of economic development, the formation of a certain economic structure, the presence of folklore, that is, folk culture in the form of myths, legends, rituals and customs. The nationality has an already formed language (written), a special way of life, religious consciousness, institutions of power, self-consciousness, expressed in its name. More than a hundred different nationalities lived on the territory of the former USSR, administratively and territorially fixed in autonomous republics and districts. Many of them remain part of the Russian Federation.
Process of creation nation, as the most developed form of an ethnic group, occurs during the period of the final formation of statehood, the wide development of economic ties in the territory previously occupied by several nationalities, general psychology(national character), special culture, language and writing, developed ethnic identity. Nations that have become obsessed create states. In Europe, this process took place during the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism and finally ended during the creation of a mature capitalist economy and the creation of a national culture in the main countries of the European continent - France, Germany, Spain, etc. In Russia, a similar process The formation of nations began in the pre-revolutionary period, but it did not receive its natural completion, it was interrupted by the October Revolution, after which the national question began to be resolved from the positions of the Marxist-Leninist ideology, within the framework of a totalitarian system of power.
Of the three types of ethnos indicated, sociologists pay paramount attention to the study of nations and national relations, since this type of ethnos prevails in the modern world, including on the territory of our country. Therefore, in the sociological literature, the terms "ethnic" and "national" are often used as synonyms or in the phrase "national-ethnic".
Ethnographers studying the way of life and culture of various ethnic groups are now arguing about whether living on a common territory is an essential sign of an ethnic community. It is known from world practice that representatives of any ethnic group do not always live on the same territory and form a separate state. It often happens that representatives of one ethnic group can live in the territories of other states and ethnic groups (indigenous nation), while maintaining the characteristic features of their ethnic nose - customs, traditions, stereotypes of behavior, not to mention common language. Therefore, there are practically no states in the world within whose borders only representatives of one ethnic group would live. Even within the framework of European mono-national states - France, Germany, Sweden, etc., representatives of various ethnic groups live within the boundaries of one political entity. Column "nationality" in many Western countries not used at all, talking about French, German, American, etc. citizenship, and not about nationality, since the national and political characteristics of the ethnic community here coincide. -The term "American", for example, means not so much ethnicity as nationality.
We have taken two of these 5 concepts in brackets, since they practically have no scientific meaning and are the results of numerous stratifications, convergences and divergences of the meanings of the main 4 terms, which, on the contrary, denote rather definite, but different realities. Differences in the meanings of the main members of the chain - ethnos-people-nation-race - will lead us both to a clearer understanding of each term and to an understanding of the instrumental meaning of intermediate concepts taken in brackets.
Scientific definition of ethnos
The term "ethnos" was introduced into scientific circulation in Russia by a scientist who, after October revolution in exile, Sergei Mikhailovich Shirokogorov(1887-1939). To him belongs what has become classic definition"ethnos".
"ethnos" is a group of people
Speaking the same language
Recognizing their common origin
Possessing a complex of customs, a way of life, preserved and consecrated by tradition and distinguished by it from those of other groups.
This definition emphasizes the linguistic commonality (which was placed in the first place not by chance), the common origin, the presence of customs and traditions (that is, culture), as well as the ability to clearly distinguish these traditions and customs from the customs and traditions of other ethnic groups (differentiation).
A similar definition of "ethnos" (more precisely, "ethnicity" - Ethnizitat) gives Max Weber“Ethnicity is belonging to ethnic group, united by cultural homogeneity and belief in a common origin". Shirokogorov's definition is more complete, as it emphasizes the commonality of the language.
The most important thing in the concept of an ethnos is the assertion of its basic reality at the basis of the entire structure of society. Every person has a language, culture, knowledge about the origins and customs. And this complex varies significantly from society to society. The underlying matrix of such a complex (that is, a combination of all elements - sometimes collectively called "culture") is the ethnos.
The people are a community of fate
The Russian term “people” Shirokogorov proposes not only to separate from the concept of “ethnos”, but also not to use it in scientific constructions at all due to its “vagueness” and “polysemy” (we saw what a difficult hierarchy of the word for “people” existed in ancient Greek) . Nevertheless, for a more accurate understanding of the term "ethnos", we can try to define it. A people is an ethnos that brings a higher goal into the structure of its society, strives to transcend the usual limits of ethnic existence, consciously expand the horizons of culture and the scale of social structures. It can also be said that a people is an ethnos in an upward movement, on the rise, in the dynamics of expansion, growth, takeoff (3) .
The people, in contrast to the ethnos, which is oriented towards a common origin, is oriented towards a common destiny, that is, not only the past and the present, but also the future, what needs to be done. The people are connected with the mission, the project, the task. It is organized along the force lines of the realization of the unrealized, the discovery of the undiscovered, the creation of the uncreated.
At its core, a people remains an ethnos and has all the properties of an ethnos, but a new component is added to this set - language, origin, custom, awareness of difference from others - mission, purpose, purpose.
Not every ethnos is a people in this scientific definition, but every people is basically an ethnos.
Soviet ethnologist Julian Bromley(1921-1990), studying ethnos, tried to emphasize the same difference. He contrasted "ethnos in narrow sense” (that is, actually “ethnos” as such) “ethnos in the broad sense”, which he called “ethno-social organism” (4) . Under the "ethno-social organism" Bromley understood approximately the same as we under the "people". But, in our opinion, such a definition is extremely unsuccessful, since any ethnic group necessarily carries sociality, moreover, it is the matrix of sociality, its original and fundamental form (and in this sense, any sociality is always ethnic in its origins, at least) , and any ethnos is an organism, that is, it corresponds to the organizational code, is organized according to a certain paradigm, which may change or stagnate, but is always present.
It is much more constructive to use the term "people", each time emphasizing and keeping in mind its scientific definition. When translated into European languages pairs "ethnos" - "people" you can use the Greek form "ethnos" (in French - l "ethnie) and the most accurately corresponding term "people" - the people, das Volk, le peuple, el pueblo, etc. In In extreme cases, if this is not enough, it is possible to introduce the Russian word “narod” into scientific circulation - if only because this concept lies in the center of attention of Russian philosophy, which, starting from the era of the Slavophiles and up to the Narodniks, gave it the most important place in philosophical , historical and social theories and systems.
Nation as Nation-State.
In contrast to the organic and always actually given, primordial “ethnos” and from the “people” that creates religions, civilizations or states, the nation is an exclusively political concept and is associated with the New Age.
In Latin, "natio" means exactly the same as "people", that is, "birth", "clan", and also "Motherland", the place where a person was "born". IN latin word there is a binding to the place, but this is not expressed semantically, but rather associatively - based on the typical use of this term in Latin texts. This "natio" differs from "populus", which is more associated with "genus", "origin".
In political and scientific language, the term "nation" has acquired a stable meaning in connection with the concept of the state. There is an important French phrase - Etat-Nation, literally "State-Nation". It emphasizes that we are not talking about an empire where a single political system could include various ethnic groups, but about such an entity where the state-forming ethnic group completely turns into a people, and the people, in turn, embodies themselves in the state, turns into it, becomes him. A nation is a people that ceases to be an ethnos and has become a state.
The state is an administrative apparatus, a machine, a formalized body of legal norms and institutions, a rigidly built system of power and control. A nation is what this mechanism consists of - a set of details, atoms, elements that allow this mechanism to function.
Nations appear only in modern times, in the era of Modernity, together with modern states - moreover, these are not two separate phenomena; one calls forth the other: the modern state brings with it the modern nation. One is unthinkable without the other.
The nation is, in a logical sense, the product of the completed implementation by the people of the task of building the state, and the opposite gesture of the state to establish the nation in the place of the people and instead of the people. The people create the state (in the modern sense), and this is where its function ends. Further, the state begins to act according to its own autonomous logic, depending on what idea, paradigm or ideology it has. If at the first stage the people create the state, then later, having taken place, the state itself artificially generates a certain analogue of the “people” - this analogue is called the “nation”.
In a Nation-State, by definition, there can only be one nation. This nation is determined primarily on a formal basis - citizenship. The basis of the nation is the principle of citizenship: nationality and citizenship are identical.
The Nation State has
One (rarely several) state language,
obligatory historical episteme (narration about the stages of the formation of a nation),
ruling ideology or its equivalent,
legal legislation, the observance of which is an indisputable duty.
We see in the “nation” certain elements of both the “ethnos” and the “people”, but they are transferred to a different level, they are not an organic whole, but an artificially built rationalistic mechanism.
The nation is based on the transformation of the main people and the suppression (sometimes destruction) of small ethnic groups that fall within the zone of state control. In fact, everything ethnic, original, basic, traditional (which was also preserved among the people) disappears in the nation. The people that builds the state and becomes the core of the “nation” loses its own ethnicity, since living ties, the processes of evolution of language, customs, traditions acquire a fixed form in the state once and for all; social structures are transformed into legal codes; only one of the possible ethnic dialects is taken as a normative language, fixed as obligatory, and the rest are eradicated as "illiteracy"; and even the implementation of the goal, mission, the state rationalizes and takes responsibility for its achievement.
The family is what surrounds every person from the moment of birth. Having matured a little, the child learns about such concepts as nationality, nation. Over time, he begins to understand what kind and nation he belongs to, gets acquainted with their culture. However, often both in children and adults there is confusion between such similar terms as nationality, nation, ethnic group, tribe, clan. Although they are often considered synonymous, they have different meanings.
The meaning of the concept of "ethnos"
The very word "ethnos" in translation from Greek means "people". Previously, this term meant a community of people united by blood kinship.
Today, the concept of ethnicity has become much broader.
Now ethnic groups are distinguished not only by kinship, but also by the common territory of residence, language, culture and other factors.
The main types of ethnic groups
Clans, families, tribes, nationalities, nations are types of ethnic groups. At the same time, they are the stages of the historical evolution of the ethnos.
According to the hierarchy of ethnic groups, there are six types of them:
- family;
- clan;
- tribe;
- nationality;
- nation.
All of them existed in a certain historical period, but later changed under the influence of external and internal factors. At the same time, such species as clan, clan and tribe in a civilized society have long disappeared or remained as a tradition. In some places on the planet they still exist.
Most scientists believe that the most milestones development of the ethnos are the tribe, nationality, nation. This is due to the fact that these ethnic groups no longer depended on blood relationship, their commonality was based on cultural and economic grounds.
It is worth noting that sometimes modern scientists single out the seventh type of ethnic group - an interethnic nation of citizens. It is believed that modern society gradually moving towards this stage.
Family, clan and clan
The smallest ethnic community is the family (an association of people connected by blood ties). It is noteworthy that before the formation of such a social institution as the family, group marriage was widespread. In it, kinship was conducted from the mother, since it was almost impossible to establish who the father of a particular child was. did not last long, as incest and, as a result, degeneration became frequent.
To avoid this, over time, an ethnic community was formed - a clan. The genera were formed on the basis of several families that entered into a kindred union with each other. For a long time, the tribal way of life was the most common. However, with an increase in the number of representatives of the genus, the danger of incest arose again, “fresh” blood was required.
Clans began to form on the basis of clans. As a rule, they bore the name of either a famous founding ancestor, or revered as a patron and protector. The clans, as a rule, owned land, which was inherited. Today, the clan system has been preserved as a tradition in Japan, Scotland and some Indian tribes in South and North America.
By the way, the concept of "blood feud" became widespread precisely during the existence of this
Tribe
The above types of ethnic groups are rather small in terms of the number of their representatives, based on family ties. At the same time, a tribe, a nationality, a nation are larger and more developed ethnic groups.
Over time, ethnic groups based on blood relationship began to evolve into tribes. The tribe already included several clans and clans, so not all of its members were relatives. In addition, with the development of tribes, society began to gradually divide into classes. Compared to clans and clans, tribes were very numerous.
Most often, the tribes were united by the need to protect their territories from strangers, although over time they began to form their own beliefs, traditions, and language.
In a civilized society, tribes have long ceased to exist, but today they play a major role in many less developed cultures (in Africa, Australia and Polynesia, on some tropical islands).
Nationality
At the next stage of evolution, which the ethnos (tribe, nationality, nation) underwent, states appeared. This was due to the fact that the number of members of the tribe grew, in addition, the arrangement of this type of ethnic group improved over the years. Closer to the period of the slave system, such a thing as nationality appeared.
Nationalities arose primarily not because of family ties or the need to protect their lands, but on the basis of an established culture, laws (which appeared instead of tribal customs), and economic communities. In other words, the nationality differed from the tribes in that it not only existed permanently in any territory, but could also create its own state.
Nation and nationality
The formation of a nation was the next and most perfect stage of the evolution of an ethnos (tribe, nationality) today.
A nation is not just a grouping of people according to a common area of residence, language of communication and culture, but also according to similar psychological features and historical memory. The nation is distinguished by its nationality in that its representatives were able to create a society with a developed economy, a system of trade relations, private property, law,
The concept of "nation" is associated with the emergence of nationality - belonging to or the state.
Throughout history, most nations have gone through all stages of the evolution of an ethnos: family, clan, clan, tribe, nationality, nation. This contributed to the emergence of nations and countries known to everyone today.
It is noteworthy that, according to the ideology of fascism, there was a chosen nation, called upon to destroy all the others over time. That's just, as practice has shown throughout history, any ethnic group degenerated without interaction with others. So if we were alone purebred Aryans, then in a few generations, most of the representatives of this nation would suffer from numerous hereditary diseases.
There are ethnic groups that develop not according to general scheme(family, clan, tribe, nationality, nation), - the people of Israel, for example. So, despite the fact that the Jews called themselves a people, according to their way of life they were a typical clan (common ancestor Abraham, consanguinity between all members). But at the same time, in just a few generations, they managed to acquire the signs of a nation with a clear system of legal and economic relationships, and a little later they formed a state. However, at the same time, they retained a clear clan system, in rare cases allowing family ties with other nationalities. It is interesting that if Christianity had not arisen, dividing the Jews into two opposing camps, as well as the fact that their state was destroyed, and the people themselves scattered, degeneration would have awaited the Jews.
Today people live in a society made up of nations. Belonging to one of them determines not only the thinking and consciousness of a person, but also his standard of living. Interestingly, the most developed countries today are multinational, so the likelihood of an interethnic nation of citizens is very high.
