The difference between a people and a nation.

Between the concepts "people" and "nation" is often put an equal sign. Many dictionaries consider them synonymous. But the people and the nation are not at all the same: they are phenomena related to different social spheres. How are they different? Let's try to understand this confusing question.

Definition

People - a set of people with a common origin, common traditions, language, culture.

Nation - a community of people bound by political, economic interests, which is already part of the state or strives to create it.

Comparison

Peoplearise during the transition from a primitive society to a class one.The nationis formed with the advent of capitalism in Western Europe.

The concept of "people" appeared in Russia much earlier than the concept of "nation" and was used mainly in relation to the inhabitants of our country. The word "nation" was supposedly borrowed from Poland in the Peter's era and was used to discuss relations with foreign powers. A clear shade of foreignness, "foreignness" was inherent in him until the end of the 19th century. Nation at that time meant the nobility, then - a sovereign state, power, empire.

The essence of the conceptpeoplelies in spontaneous ethnic processes that do not always depend on the consciousness and will of people.The nationis closely connected with national movements that have a specific program, with the activities of a group of individuals aimed at achieving certain goals (most often political). The nation in this case acts as a social (political) force that must be reckoned with.

A people is a collection of people whose community is based on a single blood origin, special traditions and customs, and a way of life. The nation is based on common market, economic ties, follows the same civil laws. A common language, a common culture are the propertyof the people, and a common territory and the unity of economic life is closer to the conceptof a nation. The nation manifests itself through the system of public institutions, in particular through the state.

It turns out that the people create the state, and then the state, having strengthened and expanded, artificially forms the nation (an analogue of the people). The nation is based on the principle of citizenship. The people is an organic whole, the nation is an artificially constructed rationalistic mechanism. The nation nullifies everything that is primordial, ethnic, and traditional. The people, building the state and being the core of the nation, are losing their ethnicity, because the living processes of linguistic evolution, traditions, customs in the state acquire one fixed form. Not all representatives of the very people, which served as the basis for the creation of a national state, can be part of a nation. Frequent payment for the formation of a nation is a split and confrontation within the people.

Conclusions TheDifference.ru

  1. The conceptpeoplearose much earlier than the conceptnation. The word "nation" in Russia was initially used only for foreigners.
  2. People - primary, natural, natural, real education. A nation is secondary, rational, artificial, abstract.
  3. The word "nation" is closely related to the state mechanism, with social (mainly political) movements that have a certain program and go to their goals. People are a more spontaneous concept, uncontrollable. A nation is a political phenomenon, a people is a sociocultural one.
  4. A nation is an analogue of a people, which is artificially formed by the state.
  5. The nation needs schools, universities, a literary language and, finally, its own state. The people can exist without all this.
  6. A people is people, a nation is a principle that dominates people, a ruling idea.
  7. The creation of a nation is often associated with a split, confrontation within society.
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