Ethnic groups. What is it?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

No one will argue that the peoples of different countries are different from each other. Just like people within the same nationality. Such differences are due to the history of the development of the people, the commonality of traditions, cultural values of a particular group. All this is an extremely interesting object for study by sociologists, historians and psychologists. In the general sense of the word, any nation, nationality can be called an ethnic group. And within almost any ethnic group, ethnic groups function. Let's try to figure out what it is, how they differ.

It can be said that ethnic groups are communities of people who are similar in worldview, cultural norms, and beliefs. They have individual self-consciousness and separate themselves from other communities. As a rule, all members of the group speak the same language, belong to the same religion, have a similar stock of character.

Ethnic groups can form in several ways:

1. By assimilation by one nationanother or relocation to another territory. So, for example, Yakutians, Kamchadals, Kolyma residents appeared - Russian people who adopted many traditions and life of the Yakuts.
2. Influenced by certain historical events. These, for example, include the Old Believers who appeared after the split of the Church, or the Chaldons, a community formed after Yermak's campaign.



3. As a result of the combination of the above reasons. Here you can name the Cossacks, whose life was largely influenced by their residence in territories close to historical military events.

Most states are multinational, everywhere there are ethnic groups that can be classified as minorities. At the same time, they are far from always being such in terms of the number of their members. Thus, the national composition of the United States includes not only Native Americans, but also African Americans, Irish, Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Germans - representatives of more than 100 nationalities around the world. Even the indigenous population is heterogeneous and unites approximately 170 tribes.

The same can be said about Russia. Its territory is home to 180 nations. These are not only Russians, but also Ukrainians, Finns, Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Moldavians, Buryats, Chechens, etc. In the European part of the country, the Russian ethnic group prevails, which can no longer be said about the Trans-Urals. At the same time, the percentage of the Russian population reaches 80 throughout the country.

And in the US, the share of Native Americans is only 1.3%. However, in both countriesexamples of discrimination against ethnic minorities are illustrative. So, everyone knows about the hostility of a certain part of the “primordially” Russian population towards people from the Caucasus. Moreover, such rejection often leads to bloodshed. In turn, many representatives of the southern people have the same attitude towards Russians on their territory. Russia is no exception to the world's rules.

You can also talk about the oppression of ethnic minorities in America. For example, consider the period when the black population was enslaved by the white race. But the number of African Americans far exceeded the number of representatives of the leading nation. And now in the United States it is extremely difficult to find a decent job, get a good income for immigrants from Latin America, and yet their number far exceeds the number of "native" Americans.

Now let's clarify why the word "original" was written in quotation marks. The point is that any ethnic group is not a constant. One way or another, but changes are taking place in it based on certain historical events. Belonging to a particular community can be based not only on birth, but also on marriage. Often there are mixed unions. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to talk about the originality of belonging to one or another people. Ethnic groups change over time, leaving behind some basic features and identity.