A nation is a cultural-political, historically determined community of people. is quite vague, so there are clarifying and corrective formulations. They are necessary so that this concept can be used in popular science literature and not depend on the context.

How to understand the term “nation”

Thus, the constructivist approach argues that the concept of “nation” is entirely artificial. The intellectual and cultural elite creates an ideology that the rest of the people follow. To do this, they do not necessarily need to shout political slogans or write manifestos. It is enough to direct people in the right direction with your creativity. After all, the most lasting thought is the one that penetrates the head gradually, without direct pressure.

The boundaries of influence remain quite tangible political and geographical cordons. Constructivist theorist Benedict Anderson defines a nation as: an imagined political community that is sovereign in nature and limited from the rest of the world. Adherents of such thinking deny the participation of the experience and culture of previous generations in the formation of the nation. They are confident that after the period of industrialization a new society has emerged.

Ethnicity

Primordialists decipher the concept of “nation” as a kind of evolution of an ethnos to a new level and its transformation into a nation. This is also a type of nationalism, but it is associated with the concept of the spirit of the people and emphasizes its connection to the “roots”.

Adherents of this theory believe that what makes a nation unified is a certain ephemeral spirit that is invisibly present in every citizen. And a common language and culture helps unite people. Based on the doctrine of language families, one can draw conclusions about which peoples are related to each other and which are not. But besides this, not only the cultural, but also the biological origin of peoples is tied to this theory.

Nationality

People and nation are not identical concepts, just like nationality and nation. It all depends on point of view and cultural ideology. In countries this word is expressed, but it does not cover everyone who falls under the definition of a nation. In Europe, nationality is belonging to a nation by right of citizenship, birth, and upbringing in a closed environment.

At one time there was an opinion that the nations of the world are formed according to genetic characteristics, but in practice one can find such combinations as Russian German, Ukrainian Pole and many others. In this case, heredity plays no role at all in a person’s self-identification as a citizen of the country; something stronger than the instincts inherent in every cell of the body prevails here.

Types of nations

Conventionally, the nations of the world can be divided into two types:

1. Multi-ethnic.
2. Monoethnic.

Moreover, the latter can be found only in those corners of the world where it is difficult to reach: high in the mountains, on remote islands, in harsh climates. Most nations on the planet are multiethnic. This can be logically deduced if you know world history. During the existence of mankind, empires were born and died, containing the entire world known at that time. Escaping from natural disasters and wars, peoples moved from one end of the continent to another, in addition, there are many other examples.

Language

The definition of a nation is not related to language as such. There is no direct relationship between the means of communication and the ethnicity of the people. Currently there are common languages:

• English;
• French;
• German;
• Chinese;
• Arabic, etc.

They are accepted as state ones in more than one country. There are also examples where the majority of members of a nation do not speak the language that should reflect their ethnicity.

Psychology of the Nation

According to economic theory, a person is born, lives and dies without leaving his usual habitat. But with the advent of industrialization, this pastoral picture begins to crack. Nations of people mix, penetrate each other and bring their own cultural heritage.

Since family and neighborhood ties are easily destroyed, the nation creates a more global community for people without restricting their movements. In this case, community is formed not through personal involvement, blood relationship, or acquaintance, but through the power of popular culture to conjure up an image of unity.

Formation

In order for a nation to be formed, it is necessary to combine economic, political and ethnic characteristics in place and time. The process of formation of a nation and the conditions of its existence develop simultaneously, so the formation proceeds harmoniously. Sometimes, in order for the formation of a nation to occur, it is necessary to give a push from the outside. For example, a war for independence or against enemy occupation brings people very close together. They fight for one idea, without sparing their own lives. This is a strong incentive for unification.

Erasing national differences

It is interesting that the health of the nation begins with the head and ends with it. In order for representatives of a people or a state to recognize themselves as a nation, it is necessary to give people common interests, aspirations, a way of life and a language. But to make things special in relation to other peoples, we need something more than cultural propaganda. The health of a nation is manifested in its homogeneous thinking. All its representatives are ready to defend their ideals, they do not doubt the correctness of the decisions made and feel like a single organism consisting of a large number of cells. Such a phenomenon could be observed in the Soviet Union, when the ideological component had such a strong influence on a person’s self-identification that from childhood he felt like a citizen of a huge country in which everyone thinks at the same time.

A nation is a broad concept that makes it possible to outline its borders. At the moment, neither ethnicity nor political boundaries or military threat can influence its formation. This concept, by the way, appeared during the French Revolution as a contrast to the power of the king. After all, it was believed that he and all his orders were considered the highest good, and not a political whim. New and Modern times made its own adjustments to the definition of a nation, but the emergence of a unified way of governing the state, the export and import market, the spread of education even in third world countries, increased the cultural level of the population, and, as a result, self-identification. Consequently, it has become more difficult to influence the formation of a cultural and political community.

Under the influence of wars and revolutions, all the major nations of Europe and colonial countries, Asia, and Africa were formed. They remain multi-ethnic, but in order to feel belonging to any nation, it is not necessary to have the same nationality. After all, this is rather a state of soul and mind, rather than physical presence. Much depends on the culture and upbringing of an individual person, on his desire to become part of the whole, and not to be separated from it by means of moral principles and philosophical ideas.

NATION

NATION

1. A historically established part of humanity, united by a stable community of language, territory, economic life and culture. - A nation is not just a historical category, but a historical category of a certain era, the era of rising capitalism. “The process of eliminating feudalism and developing capitalism is at the same time the process of forming people into nations.” Stalin . “A nation is a historically established stable community of language, territory, economic life and mental makeup, manifested in a community of culture.” Stalin . “...A nation, like any historical phenomenon, is subject to the law of change, has its own history, beginning and end.” Stalin . “We are full of a sense of national pride, because the Great Russian nation also created a revolutionary class, also proved that it is capable of giving humanity great examples of the struggle for freedom and for socialism...” Lenin .

Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary.

1935-1940.

Synonyms See what "NATION" is in other dictionaries: nation

- and, f. nation f. , floor. nacya, lat. nation tribe, people. Initially in the speech of Polish and French bilinguals (dipl. circles). Exchange 132. 1. Historically established stable community of people, characterized by a common language, territory,... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- (from lat. nation tribe, people), historical. community of people that develops during the formation of the community of their territory, economic. connections, lit. language, some features of culture and character. In the bourgeoisie there is no sociology and historiography... Philosophical Encyclopedia- (lat.). A people, in general, people who speak the same language, connected by a common origin and historical traditions, as well as tribal unity. Dictionary foreign words

The idea of ​​a nation is not what it thinks of itself in time, but what God thinks of it in eternity. Vladimir Solovyov A nation is a community of people who are united by illusions about common ancestors and a common hatred of their neighbors. William Inge Robinson with... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

- (from Latin natio tribe, people) a stable community of people living in the same territory, historically formed in the process of development, having a common culture, language, and identity. Characterized by economic community and unified, diverse... ... Political science. Dictionary.

Nation- Nation ♦ Nation A people considered from a political rather than a biological or cultural point of view (a nation is not a race or an ethnic group); a collection of individuals rather than an institution (a nation is not necessarily the same as a state). Renan... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

People, nationality, tribe; ethnicity, language Dictionary of Russian synonyms. nation nationality, people, tribe; language (obsolete) Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011… Synonym dictionary

Nation- Nation: a) co-citizenship, a consolidated set of citizens of one state, which, while maintaining ethnic, religious and racial diversity, has a common language, a common culture with its inherent independent system of values,... ... Official terminology

Synonyms- NATION, people, nationality, obsolete. tribe, obsolete language … Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

- (lat. natio tribe, people) 1) in the theory of law, a historical community of people that develops in the process of forming a community of their territory, economic ties, language, some features of culture and character that constitute its characteristics. IN… … Legal Dictionary

Books

• Nation and democracy. Prospects for managing cultural diversity, Pain Emil Abramovich, Fedyunin Sergey. Throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. the idea of ​​a nation was being tested. The question has been repeatedly raised: is a nation needed today? Many intellectuals proclaimed an offensive...

One of the reasons for the two world wars for which the twentieth century was “famous” was nationalism. Largely because of the easy-to-come-to-mind analogy between “nationalism” and “Nazism,” this word has become almost indecent. Which, however, should not exclude scientific analysis this complex phenomenon. Moreover, modern states did not arise as a result of “ immaculate conception"in the minds of the founding fathers, but as a result of the development of the national movement, which often lasted many centuries.

Science begins with a definition. An attempt to define what a nation is immediately shows the complexity of this concept. And, oddly enough, the best definition is that formulated by I.V. Stalin at the beginning of the twentieth century:

A nation is a historically established stable community of people that arose on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life and mental makeup, manifested in a common culture.

Nations are now seen as “imagined communities,” the product of industrial development over the past three centuries. As a result of the consolidation of production, the emergence of new means of communication, universal education, and standardization of the language of communication, it became possible to unite people into very large, previously non-existent communities. These communities, as it turns out, can include various ethnic groups that differ from each other in language, religion, and even race. They are united only by national ideology (or national idea), roughly speaking, a fairy tale that everyone believes because it is taught in school.

For example, the national idea of ​​the USA, a state that arose as a state of emigrants, is the constitution and the unconditional primacy of the law based on this constitution. And the national idea of ​​France is French and French culture.

Strictly speaking, the development of the national idea occurs during the formation of the national state. This development occurs differently in each state. Certain parameters can be put forward as a national idea, depending on which the life and even the existence of a nation can be more or less successful.

Examples of unsuccessful national ideas are Nazism and communism. Well, these guys failed to gather people under the banner of a new idea and “forge” them into a new people!

Problems with the national idea arise in multi-ethnic countries such as India or Indonesia. Even in Belgium they have not yet developed a national idea equally inspiring to two different people, forming the Belgian political nation. But the Chinese nation, which united many different ethnic groups, even completely different languages speakers, arose during a thousand-year history and is currently a fact. A much shorter history united the different and multilingual ethnic groups living in the center of Europe into one Swiss Confederation and one Swiss nation. The process of forming a new political nation is now underway in Ukraine.

Nation and nationality

The concept of “nation” is not equivalent to the concept of “nationality”. Moreover, Russian word"nationality" does not correspond to the English "nationality". The latter stands for "citizenship". For example, “Swiss”, “American”, “British”, “Israeli”. The Russian word “nationality” means ethnicity, which in English language denoted by the word "ethnicity". The picture is similar in comparison with other European languages.

The concept of "nationality" in the multinational Soviet Union was largely the result of bureaucratization. There was a list of nationalities, including citizens of foreign states (French, Turks, Chinese, Hungarians, Bulgarians), titular peoples of the allied countries (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, etc.) and peoples of autonomous republics, territories and regions (Tatars, Bashkirs, Abkhazians, Chechens, Ossetians, etc.). This list did not include ethnic groups. Cossacks and Pomors were considered, for example, Russians, and Rusyns living in Transcarpathia were considered Ukrainians.

The bureaucratic origin of the concept of “nationality” was emphasized by the fact that the passport had a corresponding column (the notorious “fifth column”), which could not be empty and which had to contain an entry from the above-mentioned list. At the age of sixteen, when receiving a passport, a citizen indicated his nationality of his own free will. Anyone born into a family where parents were of the same nationality was deprived of a choice. In this case, the nationality of the parents was recorded in the fifth column. But in a mixed family, you could choose either the nationality of the father or the nationality of the mother. At the same time, knowledge of the national language did not matter at all. This is how citizens of the USSR appeared, having some nationality, but not speaking the national language (“Siberian” Ukrainians, “metropolitan” Georgians, Jews who do not know Yiddish). On the one hand, this showed the limited understanding of the concept of “nationality” in the international state that the USSR proclaimed itself to be. On the other hand, there were serious restrictions based on nationality. So a young person receiving a passport was often advised to choose a “convenient” nationality.

There were also anecdotal cases. One wise guy of Jewish nationality called himself “Jew” when he issued his passport. The passport officer wrote “Indian” in the appropriate column. When exchanging the passport, “Indian” was replaced by “Indian” (it turns out that there was such a nationality on the official list). And so they brought up the Indian Rabinovich in their team :)

Veselukha

Currently, in Russia, citizens have the right to independently determine their nationality. Nationality is not recorded in the passport, and ethnicity is only asked during censuses. As a result, nationalities appeared that Soviet leaders never dreamed of: Cossacks, Pomors, Scythians, even hobbits and elves (warm greetings to Professor Tolkien). Among the answers given during the 2010 All-Russian Population Census were “crossbreed,” “Soviet,” “man of the world,” “foreigner,” and “internationalist.” There were also “Katsaps”, “Bulbashes”, “Chukhontsy”, “Chaldons”, “Skobari” and even “Pharaohs”. Oh, and the little people have blossomed!

And, to a lesser extent, other complementary ethnic groups. See discussion of the issue.

Definitions of a nation

Bauer

“A nation is a collection of people bound together in a community of character based on a community of destiny. Community of destiny does not mean submission to one lot, but a common experience of the same destiny with constant exchange and interaction.”

VladiMir

“A nation is a community united by transethnic culture, a creative search for coexistence in the form of sovereign statehood.”

Theodor Herzl

“A nation is a community of people in the past, united in the present against a common enemy.”

Pavel Krupkin

“A nation is the political hypostasis of the people of a country. These are people united by the state and loyal to their state. Loyalty to the state is demonstrated through the people’s exercise of their political rights and the bearing of political responsibilities, the main of which is the duty to defend their country, their society, their state.

Do not confuse a nation with a nationality, or an ethnic group: one ethnic group can be a component of several nations, a nation can be formed by several ethnic groups. Read more. Examples of confusion are above, except for this VladiMir. Historically, the concept of the nation appeared in the heat of anti-monarchist struggle as a solution to the problem of supreme sovereignty. The idea of ​​monarchy was based on the basic idea of ​​feudalism, according to which every person must necessarily be a vassal of some sovereign. At the same time, the social pyramid was cleverly closed at the top with the position that the Monarch, being the supreme sovereign for all his subjects, receives this sovereignty from God through the ritual of anointing... With a strong desire to remove the figure of the Monarch from the social structure, the problem of “suspension” of the source of supreme sovereignty arises. And this problem was solved by the provision that the supreme sovereignty in a given territory comes from the nation, that is, a community of people with political rights. In parallel with this, on the same basis, the concept of the Social Contract was built, which became the main instrument for eliminating “feudal remnants” and clearing the way for social progress... This understanding of the nation was fully tested within the framework of the American and French revolutions, within which the nation again, this meant the community of political actors of the people (let me remind you that at that time only a small part of the population of the respective countries had political rights). Subsequently, the battle between the idea of ​​national sovereignty and the idea of ​​the sacred monarchical principle (sovereignty from God) became the essence of the anti-feudal struggle in Europe. At the same time, the extension of this struggle to multinational monarchies of Eastern Europe

opened up opportunities for filling the concept of a nation with ethnic content. This revision of the concept was supported in the West, because it weakened the European monarchies as actors in European politics. As a result, the concept of “the right of nations to self-determination” emerged, which was significantly used to eliminate the Eastern European empires, and subsequently the colonial empires.”

Pavel Vyacheslavovich Svyatenkov

The author of the article is professional tutor Elena Viktorovna Kaluzhskaya

Ethnic community- a historically established stable collection of people in a certain territory who have common features and stable characteristics of culture, language, mental makeup, self-awareness, historical memory, awareness of their interests and goals, dignity, differences from other similar entities.

TO ethnic communities, as a rule, include clan, tribe, nationality, nation.
Historically, the clan and tribe were the first to emerge.

Genus- a group of blood relatives descending from the same line (maternal or paternal).
Tribe- a set of genera interconnected by common cultural features, awareness of common origin, common dialect, unity of religious ideas and rituals.
Such communities are characteristic of primitive communal systems.

With the deepening division of labor and the complication of social connections, new forms of community of people begin to take shape - nations and peoples.

Nationality- a historically established community of people, united by a common territory, language, mental make-up, and culture.

With the development of capitalist relations (XVI-XVII centuries), new forms of interethnic consolidation arise - nation.

However, there is no single interpretation of the concept of nation. There are at least two interpretations of this concept.
First. A nation is a historically established community of people based on a common territory, economic structure, system of political connections, language, culture and psychological makeup, manifested in general civic consciousness and self-awareness.

Second. A nation is a historically established community of people, characterized by a common origin, language, territory, economic structure, psychological make-up and culture, manifested in ethnic consciousness and self-awareness.

In the first case, the nation is understood as co-citizenship based on an industrially developed socially oriented democracy. This understanding is accepted in Western sociology.
In another interpretation, nation means ethnicity.

Nationality– a person’s belonging to a particular ethnic group or fellow citizen, depending on self-identification.

National mentality- a way of thinking, a spiritual disposition characteristic of this particular ethnic community. This is a kind of memory of the past, which determines the behavior of people who preserve historically established traditions.

Ethnic groups in the modern world.
Modern humanity numbers from 3 to 5 thousand ethnic groups. The process of formation of ethnic groups (ethnogenesis) occurs quite intensively.

Factors of ethnogenesis:
1) Demographic. If at the beginning of the 20th century the population of the Earth was about 2 billion people, then at the beginning of the 21st it exceeded 7 billion;
2) Geographical. The peoples of Europe, the peoples of Asia, the peoples of Africa, the peoples of America, the peoples of Australia and Oceania are distinguished;
3) Language. There are various classifications of language. Language families are usually distinguished, such as, for example, Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Altai, Semitic-Hamitic and others.
4)Anthropological. Based on the principle of dividing peoples by race. It is customary to distinguish four races: Caucasoids, Mongoloids, Negroids, Australoids. However, the process of raceogenesis is continuous. This is due to the constant mixing of races. For example, in Lately began to distinguish the Brazilian race from the mixture of Indians, Africans and Europeans.

Russia is home to 10 small races, more than 130 nations, nationalities and ethnic groups.

Russia is a multinational country. Therefore, knowledge of such concepts as “ethnicity”, “nation”, “nationality”, “national mentality” will help to understand the ethnic diversity of our country.