The initial understanding of this term goes back to the etymology of the word. And it happened in the East Slavic languages, according to linguistic scholars, from the ancient verb "nationality", and was associated with the concept of closely related relations. Interestingly, the root words are “gender” and “relative”. What is the people in Russian modern language? This word undoubtedly has a much broader meaning, as well as several basic meanings when used in speech.
Definition
So, what is a people generally accepted? This word can be defined as the entire population of a particular country, as well as the community of people that has historically developed. But in any case, it will be a group of people connected by some general criteria and signs. Also, a people, a crowd is a large collection of human individuals gathered together (as a rule, it has a negative connotation in interpretation). Distinguish the use of the term in socio-political and cultural-ethnic senses.
Ethnography
What are people in this context? The science of ethnography deals with the description of peoples. The basis of the consideration is ethnos (a certain human group). Initially, this group is connected by family ties, then by secondary characteristics: cultural heritage and customs, religious and linguistic parameters, as well as territorially. Scientists believe that these characteristics distinguish one nation (ethnos) from another. These are the so-called ethnic markers, which are primary (religious and cultural customs, for example) and secondary (they include language, place of residence, and others). If we take the gypsy people as a case study, we see that their representatives live in the territories of different countries, speak different languages (assimilating them in many ways), but they are representatives of the same people who have common customs and traditions.
Political economy
What is a people as a concept in the context of a given science? Here, as a rule, he is opposed to the elite, the powers that be. And the people are the majority of the population without privileges. The masses act as a basis, sometimes even determining the course of history (as has happened more than once during the years of various revolutions). But mainly, for example, in political science, the attitude of the elite towards the people is rather consumer, it uses the ordinary population to come to power.
Other values
- Sometimes the concept of "people" is identified with the concept of "nation." However, this is not entirely true. A nation as a community of people takes shape during the formation of the state. It is a broader concept, but limited by territorial and time frames. A people - although a narrower concept (for example, several nations can make up one nation, as it was in the USSR or now in the Russian Federation), but, on the contrary, is less connected by the principle of territoriality and temporary realities. Peoples sometimes exist outside the borders and orders established by states. However, various ethnic groups can also be combined into one nation.
- In the meaning of "common people", which has a negatively colored hue. It can be used as a separation of the power elite and the disenfranchised crowd in political terminology.
- In the meaning of “public”, “spectators” for certain sections of society (mainly in the creative environment and business sphere). So, for example, bus drivers talk about their passengers.
The peoples of the world
How many nations exist on earth? Nobody will probably give an exact answer leading publicly available scientific data to a common denominator. Some scientists believe that about two thousand, others - three, even three and a half. And if you take into account the smallest and no longer existing peoples of the world? Some scholars keep records of languages. And about 7 thousand of them are known. And it also depends on what criteria to define. The Chulym people, as you know, is the smallest in Russia. The number of its representatives hardly exceeds 300 people. And in Latvia, Livs number only 180 people.
Russian people
It is quite numerous (according to various scientific data, from 129 to 150 million people). Russians represent the ethnic group of the Eastern Slavs, formed from the Old Russian nation and are the indigenous people of Russia (more than 80% of the population). Numerous Russian diasporas exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the USA, Belarus and Eastern Europe. There are individual representatives in more remote corners of our planet.
The language spoken by the people is Russian. It belongs to the eastern subgroup of Slavic languages (Indo-European family). Writing is used based on the Cyrillic alphabet. In the years of the USSR (and even today), Russian is the language of interethnic communication. The main religion professed is Orthodoxy. The Russian Orthodox Church - the Russian Orthodox Church - is called to unite the Russian people in the faith. Its dioceses exist in other countries where representatives of our numerous ethnic group live.