What is a nation? When did she arise? Is it the same with the concept of "people", or does the nation have its own properties? Why do people say "fast food nation" about the people of the United States? We will try to find answers to these questions in this article. However, before determining what a nation is, let's look at a concept close to it.
What is a people?
The concept of a people has been introduced by mankind for a long time. From ancient times, it denoted a certain community of people connected by a common origin, living in a certain territory, belonging to a specific cultural environment.
At different eras, there could be a different tolerance in the category of persons of a particular people. So, in ancient Greece, the people, in contrast to the barbarians, were all who spoke ancient Greek. The situation was similar in China. In medieval Europe, only privileged classes began to be called people, having weight in the feudal structure. Numerous peasant masses were seen as monotonous mob in all corners of the continent. Today, as a rule, people are called all the inhabitants of a certain state. Thus, the concept unites everyone who has citizenship or citizenship.
What is a nation? Definition Introduction
It is important to note that in modern vocabulary there are different visions of this concept and features that are specific to the nation. Moreover, there is some conflict with translations from other languages. So, the German "volk" unites both the nation and the people in one word. That is, for the Germans there is no difference. In the English-language special literature, the concepts of "nation" and "people" are distinguished. The latter, however, is not quite the same as the people in the Russian language. The Russian-language concept of "nation" is to a certain extent a continuation of the people, their development. If a people is more a biological or legal unity that has existed since ancient times, then a nation is a socio-psychological concept. To turn a people into a nation, he needs to realize his community and a shared historical destiny. This is not just a set of identical factors like language or culture (although they are extremely important as a
basis), it is a psychological awareness of unity by all members of the nation and a desire for joint development. The highest point of development of any nation is the creation of its own state. It is this desire that often determines the birth of a nation in the eyes of historians and sociologists.
Political and Ethnic Nations
Modern researchers of the phenomenon distinguish just such two forms among modern nations.
In short, they differ with respect to non-indigenous elements. Ethnic nations prioritize blood unity and biological traits. A classic example of such a nation are Poles and Germans. Globalization of the world and mass migration gave rise to the need to integrate foreign elements into the community of the nation. So, in the French
mass consciousness , the descendants of migrants from
the Maghreb countries also became French
. Of course, for this they need to share the historical aspirations of the nation. The need for the concept of a political nation also creates the emergence of multi-ethnic states (such as the United States or the USSR). The concept of "Soviet man" then becomes a tool for combining dissimilar elements into one body.
What is a nation? When did she arise?
Benedict Anderson - one of the researchers of the nation as a phenomenon - coined the term "imaginary community." Thus, a nation exists only in the heads of its representatives and arises only when traditional communities like village communities are destroyed, and the worker of Dortmund feels national solidarity with the clerk of Rostock. The formation of such unity was greatly facilitated by the press. And the destruction of traditional communities is an industrial revolution. Thus, many researchers (including Hobsbaum, Gellner, Smith) associate the birth of nations with the 13th and especially the 19th century in the history of Europe and America.