The Main Spheres of Social Life: The Social Sphere of Society

Social and Ethnic Communities

Social and ethnic communities occupy a distinctive position among the social collectives of humanity, representing the most enduring historically formed groupings of people, whose interrelations serve as a crucial factor in the historical development of mankind.

Such communities are typically classified as ethnos, tribe, nationality, and nation. The term "ethnos" (derived from the Greek meaning "people") is used as a general designation for types of social unity such as tribe, nationality, and nation, among others. Individuals belonging to the same ethnos are united by a singular self-awareness—an awareness of their ethnic belonging or identity. Yet, what defines this unity?

Among the primary conditions that unite individuals into a people as a coherent social community, unity of origin, residence, economic life, language, and culture are often cited. However, historical facts indicate that none of these conditions, in isolation, is obligatory.

To grasp what binds an ethnic community into a single entity, one must adopt a historical perspective. Any characteristic of an ethnos may change or even be lost during the course of historical development. Yet, it is this very process of historical evolution that ensures the unity of the ethnos. Thus, we may assert that an ethnos is cemented into a whole by its history, which is preserved in social memory. Social memory connects various historical states of the ethnos, differentiating its forms of existence throughout history. All transformations in culture, language, modes of livelihood, territorial settlement, and so forth, appear within this memory as alterations occurring within a single ethnos.

A significant element of social memory is, notably, the self-designation of the ethnos (ethnonym). Its presence is a necessary condition for ethnic self-awareness. Throughout the history of an ethnos, its self-designation serves as the common name for all its members and a marker that distinguishes it from other ethnos.

The historical approach allows for the identification of two distinct meanings that the concept of "ethnos" assumes in various contexts. First, ethnos as an ethnogenetic community (or simply ethnic), and second, ethnos as an ethnosocial community.

An ethnogenetic community is a social group whose members are united by an awareness of their genetic connection to other representatives of this group (ethnic self-awareness). The ethnic self-awareness of an individual is based on their perception of their origins. Ethnic belonging is transmitted "as a legacy" from ancestors to descendants. As a result, a historical continuity is established that defines the integrity of the ethnos. It should be noted that "genes" alone do not form ethnic self-awareness. That is to say, it is determined not so much by biological factors as by social-psychological ones, namely, what the individual believes about their origin. This implies that the ethnic community is a concept not merely biological but rather social, or more precisely, biosocial.

There exists a multitude of diverse types of ethnic communities: there are small ethnos numbering only a few hundred individuals (for instance, the Aleuts, Koryaks, Livonians) and very numerous peoples (the largest being the Chinese). Ethnos can include as components sub-ethnos, which differ in specific characteristics of lifestyle, language, and religion. Conversely, various ethnos, united by a common social-historical process, create meta-ethnic formations or super-ethnos (for example, the Slavic super-ethnos, the "Christian world," the "Muslim world").

The historical conditions under which ethnos exist give rise to a variety of connections uniting individuals, including those not defined by ethnic characteristics—political, economic, commercial, religious, and so forth. Consequently, ethnosocial communities are constructed atop ethnogenetic collectives. Leading roles in their formation may be played by economics, the state, religion, language, and numerous other factors. Thus, an ethnosocial community refers to an ethnic collective conditioned by the unity of not only ethnic but also socio-economic characteristics.

Ethnos is an historical phenomenon. Like individuals, they are born, live, and die, giving rise to the emergence of new ethnos. In the course of their self-development, depending on the content and direction of socio-economic and political processes, they may adopt various forms (types), in which biological and social factors intertwine in unique ways.

As previously noted, the historically primary type of ethnosocial communities were tribal communes. However, gradually, with the evolution of production and social relations, a process of tribal consolidation occurs, resulting in the formation of tribal alliances. Blood ties progressively lose their dominant role, yielding to social connections.

The displacement of kinship relations by commodity relations leads to the dissolution of tribes and their consolidation into nationalities. Their formation is a consequence of the disintegration of primitive society, the emergence first of family and subsequently private ownership, and the establishment of various groupings, bolstered by economic ties between allied tribes, leading to their consolidation.

Nationalities are formed on a territorial basis, which means that people living in a certain area are connected through specific economic relations. Hence, a nationality is a socio-ethnic community of individuals characterized by a shared territory, a common language (alongside the existence of various dialects from the tribes within the nationality), and elements of a shared culture. Each nationality possesses its own way of life, predominant forms of economic activity, specific rituals, traditions, and a name. Nationalities emerge both from the disintegration of primitive structures replaced by slave societies and from the transition from primitive to feudal society in regions where slave systems were not prevalent.

The formation of bourgeois relations in the modern era creates conditions conducive to the emergence and strengthening of a new system of social connections. The process of solidifying economic ties among individual nationalities, the unification of local markets within particular states into a national market, and various other factors lead to the emergence of a more developed socio-ethnic community of people—a nation.

Currently, within the field of social sciences, there exists no unified understanding or interpretation of the concept of "nation." This signifies the exceptional complexity, contradiction, and uniqueness of this phenomenon, reflected in the diverse theories of nation. These theories can be broadly categorized into several groups: psychological, cultural, ethnological, and historical-economic.

The founders of the psychological theory of the nation are considered to be the French philosopher and historian E. Renan and the Austrian philosopher O. Bauer. Proponents of psychological concepts view the laws of nation formation and development as derivatives of the consciousness and psyche of individual personalities, the "psychology of peoples." Thus, Renan asserts that "the nation is a soul, a spiritual principle," formed through "agreement" and "solidarity" created by the sentiments of past and future generations. O. Bauer notes that the nation is a "collection of people bound together by a shared fate into a community of character." M. Kareyev regards the nation as a group arising from the direct interaction of individuals.

The cultural approach to the theory of the nation is initiated by K. Renner (Springer). He perceives the nation as a classless spiritual community of individuals, as a subjective unity or cultural alliance born from the consciousness of individuals belonging to a specific ethnic community. A nation, Renner posited, is "a union of individuals who speak the same language" or "a cultural union." The foundation of the cultural theory of the nation rests upon the commonality of national culture, particularly national language.

The ethnological theory of the nation is grounded in a synthesis of elements from both psychological and cultural theories. Its advocates contend that the principal features of a nation include a shared origin, ethnic self-awareness, national sentiments, and a unity of ethno-spiritual values. However, representatives of ethnological concepts of the nation typically underestimate the significance of social aspects in the development of nations.

The "historico-economic" approach in the theory of nationhood is represented by one of the leading theorists of Marxism, K. Kautsky. In his work "Signs of Nationality," Kautsky associates the defining characteristics of a nation with a common territory and language, as well as a shared economic life and traditions. He prioritizes the commonality of territory and language, asserting that even in the absence or loss of one or several characteristics, the nation, in his view, continues to exist.

During the Soviet era, the prevailing definition of a nation in domestic literature followed Stalin's interpretation, which continued the line of the "historico-economic" approach: "A nation is a stable community of people that has historically formed, arising on the basis of a commonality of language, territory, economic life, and psychological composition, manifested in a common culture." However, Stalin canonized and dogmatized these identified traits, which resulted in the absolutization of the class principle, the division of nations (due to the excessive politicization of national life) into "state" and "non-state," and an undervaluation of the role of the national (ethnic) factor in nationhood, among other issues. Notably, Stalin's definition of a nation remains present in many textbooks even today.

In contemporary scholarly literature, particularly in the West, various definitions of a nation are employed depending on which attributes are emphasized. For instance, in the "International Edition of the American Encyclopedia," a nation is described as "a large number of people who consider themselves a community. They often share one or more of the following attributes: language, culture, religion, political and other institutions, history, and a belief in a common fate. They typically inhabit adjacent territory." The "Dictionary of American Heritage" defines a nation as "the population of a certain territory, possessing shared customs, origin, history, and often language." Webster's International Dictionary considers a nation to be "a community of people composed of one or more nationalities, having a more or less defined territory and government." In the reference book "Interethnic Relations: Terms and Definitions," the category "nation" is defined as an "ethnosocial" (and not always blood-related) community with a stable self-awareness of its identity, characterized by a shared historical destiny, psychology and character, attachment to national material and spiritual values, national symbolism, and national-ecological sentiments, as well as (primarily during the formation stage) territorial-linguistic and economic unity, which under the influence of integration and migration processes may manifest ambiguously, often losing its decisive significance, though it does not disappear.

Nevertheless, regardless of the historical paths leading to the creation of a nation or which factors are regarded as dominant in its formation, one essential condition for its existence is the establishment of a national culture. In this context, the nation emerges as its "collective bearer." The upbringing and development of an individual within the familial and domestic environment, that is, within a specific national-cultural milieu, is effectively equated with the question of their ethnonational origin. The foundation of this national-cultural environment is created by language. Thus, the most significant marker of national affiliation becomes the "native language." Modern nations are predominantly "linguistic nations," comprised of individuals who speak a common language. Language opens the gateway to national culture: alongside the linguistic "shell," the meaningful "filling" is also comprehended—cultural traditions, value orientations, ideals, norms of thought and behavior, and so forth. Therefore, an individual's national belonging is their affiliation with national culture.

However, the mere presence of a national-cultural factor does not guarantee the automatic creation of a nation. A community becomes a nation only when and to the extent that its members recognize their unity as a national identity. This relates to national self-awareness as a necessary condition for the existence of a nation. It is important to note that national self-awareness, like other collective representations, is a real social fact, an element of social reality. It influences behavior and interactions among people, with the consequences of this being concrete circumstances in their lives.

National self-awareness arises from comparing one's own people with others. For each nation, there exists a reference group that embodies relatively stable national traits. This group effectively personifies the generalized image of the nation, which representatives of other nations refer to, defining the distinctions of their own national characteristics.

To denote an individual's ethnic origin within a specific nation, the term "nationality" is often employed. However, this term is frequently regarded as synonymous with "nation." In Soviet countries, the concept of a nation coincided with "passport nationality." In the West, the terms "nation" and "nationality" generally refer to the population of a country, meaning all its citizens regardless of ethnic origin. Thus, for example, in America, descendants of immigrants refer to themselves as Americans according to their citizenship, while emphasizing their ethnic background (American of French, Ukrainian, Chinese descent, etc.). In England, there is but one nationality—Britons.

At a mundane level, the image of a nation is typically associated with an ethnocultural stereotype. An ethnocultural stereotype is a generalized notion of the typical traits characterizing a particular people. There are auto-stereotypes—views of one's own people—and hetero-stereotypes concerning other peoples. Both types of stereotypes are formed and solidified within society as widely accepted traditional views. Moreover, stereotypes often acquire emotional overtones, resulting in the same phenomenon receiving different evaluations—positive or negative.

The aggregate of stable traits characteristic of representatives of a given people, which manifests in their activities and interactions, is defined by the concept of national character. The essence of this phenomenon can be interpreted from two aspects:

1. in a personal-psychological sense, where national character is understood as a specific set of personal psychological and moral qualities that distinguish a member of that nation; this comprises the collection of "typical" psychological and moral attributes of the people;
2. in a cultural-normative aspect, whereby national character embodies not the personal traits of all or most individual members of the people, but rather the socio-cultural activities of the nation. This represents, so to speak, the collective spiritual disposition that conditions such activity and manifests within it. To denote the totality of deep-seated orientations of collective consciousness, terms such as "mentality" and "mentalité" are employed. National character serves as a form of expression for the mentality of a people. It creates the spiritual atmosphere that exists in society and is manifested in the culturally prescribed patterns of thought and behavior, in norms, value orientations, and cultural developmental products.

All this indicates that a nation is an extraordinarily complex and dynamic organism, constantly undergoing changes and developments. Various characteristics of a nation may gain priority at different stages of its development. Thus, during the formative stage of a nation, territorial-linguistic and economic unity play particularly significant roles. In the process of further development, especially in light of migration processes, it is possible for the nation to branch into a diaspora, where territorial-linguistic and economic unity no longer assume such a crucial role as they did during its formation. In this period, national self-awareness becomes more paramount.

The development of national-ethnic communities reveals two interconnected tendencies: 1) ethnic differentiation—the process of distinguishing and separating a particular social-ethnic community, reflecting its level of political maturity and the subsequent aspiration for national independence and sovereignty; 2) integration, which entails the dismantling of national "barriers," the development and expansion of connections between various nations, social-ethnic communities, and the deepening of economic and cultural relations among them.