Tribe, nationality, nation - what is this? The content of concepts

Family - this is what surrounds every person from the moment of birth. Slightly growing up, the child learns about such concepts as genus, tribe, nationality, nation. Over time, he begins to understand what kind and nation belongs to, gets acquainted with their culture. However, often in both children and adults, there is confusion between such similar terms as nationality, nation, ethnicity, tribe, gender. Despite the fact that they are often considered synonymous, they have different meanings.

The meaning of the concept of "ethnos"

The very word "ethnos" in translation from Greek means "people". Previously, this term meant a community of people united by blood relatives.

Today the concept of ethnos has become much broader.
Now the ethnic groups are distinguished not only by kinship, but also by the common territory of residence, language, culture and other factors.

The main types of ethnos

Clans, families, tribes, nationalities, nations are types of ethnic groups. At the same time they are also stages of the historical evolution of the ethnos.

According to the hierarchy of ethnoses, there are six types:

• a family;
• Genus;
• clan;
• tribe;
• Nationality;
• nation.

All of them existed in a certain historical period, but later changed under the influence of external and internal factors. However, species such as clan, clan and tribe in civilized society have long disappeared or remained as a tradition. In some places on the planet, they still exist.

Most scholars believe that the most important stages in the development of an ethnos are the tribe, the people, the nation. This is due to the fact that these ethnic groups no longer depended on blood relationship, their commonality was based on cultural and economic grounds.

It should be noted that sometimes the modern type of scientists is the seventh type of ethnos - the ethnic nation of citizens. It is believed that modern society is gradually moving towards this stage.

Family, clan and clan

The smallest ethnic community is the family (the union of people, connected by blood ties). It is noteworthy that prior to the formation of such a public institution as the family, a group marriage was extended. In it, kinship was conducted from the mother, since it was almost impossible to establish who the father of a particular child was. Group marriage did not last long, as incestuousness and, as a result, degeneracy became frequent.

To avoid this, over time, formed an ethnic community - the genus. The births were formed on the basis of several families that had entered into a related alliance. For a long time the generic mode was the most widespread. However, with the increase in the number of representatives of the genus, there was again the danger of incest, and "fresh" blood was required.

Based on the clans, clans began to form. As a rule, they bore the name of either a famous ancestor-founder, or a totemic animal, revered as a patron and protector. Clans, as a rule, belonged to the land, inherited. Today, the clan system has been preserved as a tradition in Japan, Scotland and some tribes of Indians in South and North America. By the way, the concept of "blood feud" has its spread precisely with the existence of this ethnic community.

Tribe

The above-mentioned types of ethnic groups are rather small in terms of the number of their representatives, based on kinship ties. At the same time, the tribe, the people, the nation are larger and more developed ethnic groups.

Over time, ethnoses based on blood relationship began to evolve into tribes. The tribe included several clans and clans, so that not all of its members were relatives. In addition, with the development of tribes, society began to gradually be divided into classes. Compared with clans and clans, the tribes were very numerous.

Most often the tribes were united by the need to protect their territories from strangers, although in time they began to form their beliefs, traditions, language.

In a civilized society, tribes have long ceased to exist, but in many less developed cultures today play a major role (in Africa, Australia and Polynesia, on some tropical islands).

Nationality

At the next stage of evolution, to which the ethnos (tribe, nationality, nation) was subjected, the states appeared. This was due to the fact that the number of members of the tribe grew, in addition, the arrangement of this type of ethnos has been improving over the years. Closer to the period of the slave-owning system, such a notion as the nationality appeared.

The nationalities arose primarily not because of kinship ties or the need to protect their lands, but on the basis of a formed culture, laws (appeared instead of tribal customs), economic communities. In other words, the people differed from the tribes in that they did not just exist permanently in any territory, but could also create their own state.

Nation and Nationality

Formation of the nation became the next and most perfect stage of the evolution of the ethnos (tribe, nationality).

A nation is not just a grouping of people along the common territory of residence, language of communication and culture, but also similar psychological features (national self-awareness), as well as historical memory. The nation is different in that the people were able to create a society with a developed economy, a system of trade relations, private property, law, and national culture.

The notion of "nation" is associated with the emergence of nationality - belonging to a particular nation or state.

Interesting facts about the evolution of the ethnos

Throughout history, most nations have passed through all stages of the evolution of the ethnos: family, clan, clan, tribe, nationality, nation. This contributed to the emergence of nations and countries known to all today.

It is noteworthy that, according to the ideology of fascism, there was a select nation, called to destroy all the others in time. Only, as practice has shown throughout history, any ethnos without interaction with others degenerated. Therefore, if only pure-blooded Aryans were left, then in a few generations the majority of the representatives of this nation would suffer from numerous hereditary diseases.

There are ethnic groups that do not develop according to a common pattern (family, clan, tribe, nationality, nation) - the people of Israel, for example. So, in spite of the fact that the Jews called themselves the people, in the way they were a typical clan (the common ancestor of Abraham, a blood relationship between all the members). But in just a few generations they managed to find the signs of a nation with a clear system of legal and economic relations, and a little later they formed the state. However, in doing so, they retained a clear clan system, which on rare occasions allowed kinship ties with other nationalities. It is interesting that if there were no Christianity that divided the Jews into two opposing camps, and also that their state was destroyed, and the people themselves were scattered, the Jews would be degenerated.

Today, people live in a society of nations. Belonging to one of them determines not only the thinking and consciousness of a person, but also his standard of living. It is interesting that the most developed countries today are multinational, so the probability of the emergence of an interethnic nation of citizens is very high.