What is the people: the meaning and use of the word

The initial understanding of this term goes back to the etymology of the word. And it happened in the East Slavic languages, as scholars-linguists believe, from the ancient verb "narodity", and was associated with the notion of closely related relations. It is interesting that the root words are "kindred" and "relative". What is the people in the Russian modern language? This word has, of course, a much broader meaning, as well as several basic meanings when used in speech.

Definition

So, what is the people in the common sense? This word can be defined as the whole population of a single country, as well as the community of people that has historically evolved. But in any case, it will be a group of people connected by some common criteria and signs. Also, the people, the crowd - a large set of human individuals, collected together (as a rule, has a negative connotation in interpretation). Distinguish between the use of the term in socio-political and cultural-ethnic sense.

Ethnography

What is the people in this context? Science Ethnography is engaged in describing peoples. At the heart of the consideration is the ethnos (a certain human group). Initially, this group is related by kinship, then secondary traits: cultural heritage and customs, religious and linguistic parameters, and also territorially. Scientists believe that the above characteristics are what distinguish one people (ethnos) from another. These are the so-called ethnic markers, which are paramount (religious and cultural customs, for example) and secondary (they include language, place of residence and others). If we take the Romani people as an example, we see that its representatives live in the territories of different countries, speak different languages (assimilating them in many ways), but they are representatives of one people who have common customs and traditions.

Political economy

What is the people as a concept in the context of this science? Here, as a rule, it is opposed to the elite, the powers that be. And the people are the majority of the population who do not have privileges. The popular masses act as a basis, sometimes even determining the course of history (as it was often already in the years of various revolutions). But mostly, for example, in political science, the attitude to the people on the part of the elite, rather, the consumer, it uses the common people to come to power.

Other values

1. Sometimes the concept of "people" is identified with the concept of "nation". However, this is not entirely true. The nation as a community of people is formed when the state is established. It is a broader concept, but a limited territorial and temporal framework. The people, albeit a narrower concept (for example, one nation can be made up of several peoples, as it was in the USSR or now in Russia), but, on the contrary, is less connected with the principle of territoriality and temporary realities. Peoples sometimes exist outside the borders and order established by states. However, different ethnic groups can also be united into one people.
2. In the meaning of "common people", which has a negatively colored hue. It can be used as a division of the power elite and the powerless crowd in political terminology.
3. In the meaning of "public", "viewers" for certain segments of society (mainly in the creative environment and business). So, for example, bus drivers talk about their passengers.

Peoples of the world

How many peoples are there on Earth? Probably, no one will give an exact answer leading public 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 scientists keep a record of languages. And about 7 thousand of them are known. And it depends on what criteria to give a definition. People Chulym, as you know, is the smallest in Russia. The number of its representatives hardly exceeds 300 people. And in Latvia, there are only 180 people.

Russian people

It is quite numerous (according to various scientific data, from 129 to 150 million people). Russians represent an ethnos of the Eastern Slavs, formed from the Old Russian people 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 the Slavic languages (Indo-European family). Writing is used on the basis of Cyrillic. In the years of the USSR (and today), Russian is the language of interethnic communication. The main religion is Orthodoxy. ROC - Russian Orthodox Church - is called to unite the Russian people in faith. Her dioceses exist in other countries, where representatives of our numerous ethnic group live.