About nations and interethnic relations. Nations and interethnic relations in modern society

There are three most important aspects of motivation for any organization in terms of their role in maintaining a balance of interests:

motivation to attract
retention motivation
motivation for effective work

The motivation for attracting an employee in different situations is different and depends on who is more interested in whom: a person is looking for a job or a company is looking for an employee. Experienced HR specialists know that the behavior of candidates who are looking for work on their own differs from the behavior of those who are found by recruiters, this is especially noticeable in the case of direct search. Then, in a poaching project, as a rule, all three aspects of motivation are taken into account.

In many simple cases, not all aspects of motivation coincide with each other, and often contradict. So, a person, attracted by the conditions of the company, goes to work. Having started working, he understands that there are circumstances that were not realized or unknown to him when applying for a job. They subsequently lead to a change in his claims and motivation. For example, a candidate was attracted by a good office and its location, but the forms of retention used in the organization create an unhealthy psychological atmosphere. Sometimes an employee perceives the current circumstances dramatically, then he leaves his job in the first months.

The factors that form the motivation to attract, as a rule, include:

salary amount, availability of bonuses, bonuses, profit sharing, etc.
name, size, company rating, nature of business, etc.
level and title of position, amount of authority and responsibility, opportunity for career advancement, etc.
availability of corporate infrastructure (canteen, corporate transport, communications, work clothes), etc.
office location, type of office and state of workspaces
personal and business qualities of a leader
corporate culture, compliance with Labor Code, tax legality, etc.

This list attempts to rank factors in order of importance. However, different categories of workers have their own priorities. So, for top management, for example, the last two circumstances may be more significant, but for others, only one factor is important - the first.

When attraction motivation no longer works, retention motivation comes to the fore. As a rule, the company forms retention motivation in the form of corporate programs or in the form of certain individual conditions for an employee when signals are received about his possible departure.

Strictly speaking, individual retention programs for a specific employee may indicate that the company does not have a system that allows it to take into account changes in employee qualifications and respond in a timely manner to its growth. Undoubtedly, in the course of work, the employee’s competence grows: he is enriched with new knowledge, masters new technologies, gains new experience, in fact, this is how the company develops - this is the law of growth of competence.

If a company ignores this law, then the employee leaves for a new place that allows him to realize his increased skills. This happens, for example, in organizations where remuneration is “contractual and precedent-based,” which will be discussed in more detail later.

Retention motivation can also form in an employee, for example, when he himself finds attractive features in the company: “They pay less than I expected, but it’s close to home,” “The work is monotonous, but the team is wonderful,” etc.

Corporate measures to help retain employees:

qualification and career development, duplication and personnel reserve programs
lending, deferred payments, long-term bonuses, options, etc.
compensation measures for inflation, tax losses, etc.
flexible forms of social package formation, benefits tied to
to length of service, qualifications and achievements
active forms of corporate ideology and corporate culture

Organizing motivation for effective work is the most difficult task for most companies. It is this aspect that in the overwhelming majority of cases is meant when it comes to motivation.

The presence in the organization of algorithms for encouraging effective work resolves possible contradictions between the employee and the employer and makes the balance of interests stable.

However, when solving this particular problem, the most contradictions and conflicts arise, since the result directly affects the fairness in the assessment of work and its payment.

If we define the age of capitalism in Russia as ten years, then we can easily trace the history of the development of this aspect of motivation.

A significant number of companies during the era of the “heyday of capitalism” in the early 90s attracted workers with high salaries, which shifted the balance of interests in favor of the employer. For the sake of a high salary, the worker, not paying attention to the lack of labor factors guaranteed by the Labor Code, sought to get into the company. In such a situation, forms of “negative motivation” were quite logically used in motivating work - fines, deductions, deprivation of bonuses, deductions for illness, for vacation. The salary amount was determined intuitively.

When the market was saturated with commercial enterprises, the employee had a choice; enterprises began to compete with each other in the labor market in terms of wages and working conditions. Employers have a need to develop attraction factors and ways to increase labor productivity.

However, in those years, for the same work, the difference in payment differed significantly, and sometimes in the same organization. This method of determining payment can be called “contractual-precedent”: the employee was paid the money for which he agreed to work. Another employee who came to this position to replace the one who quit was not paid the same as his predecessor, but according to a new agreement.

It should be noted that most large industrial enterprises had labor and wage departments (OTIs), which were often preserved when enterprises were corporatized. But their role has changed, new functions have been added, because motivation - no one dares to deny this today - is not only the calculation of salaries.

When creating the labor market, companies began to study the supply and demand of specialists, their remuneration rates, etc., which led to some standardization of remuneration rates. But even with this approach, a number of problems and limitations appeared. Thus, labor markets in the regions and even in the cities of Russia differ quite greatly in the structure of supply and demand, and also in the level of wages offered. Studying wages in the labor market is complicated by confidentiality in this area, so reports from companies that monitor wages can be very unreliable.

However, the amount of payment in itself, as is known, does not solve the problem of balancing the interests of the employee and the employer. Companies are developing ways to encourage productive work: premiums, bonuses, additional payments for achieving certain indicators, somewhat reminiscent of the forgotten forms of piecework bonuses and lump sum payments.

The classic form of payment is a combination of a base rate and a variable part. Their ratio depends on the type of business and company strategy.

A business with a large turnover of funds (real estate, cars, tobacco, alcohol, oil) and a risky, aggressive strategy reduces the size of the base rate in relation to the variable part.

Intellectual business, an activity where the role of the “human factor” is large, as well as management activities, on the contrary, provides a reliable basis and a relatively small variable part of the remuneration (finance and accounting, programming, etc.).

Companies develop formulas that calculate the variable part of the salary and simulate total income. From this formula it is clear what the size of the base rate should be, and it is determined, as a rule, intuitively. Everyone knows that the main difficulty in creating formulas is the description of natural indicators and their weighing. There is no science here, this is done experimentally, and the result often gives rise to conflicts and a feeling of injustice among workers.

Currently, tariffs are beginning to be revived to determine the base rate, and most importantly, to determine the place of a position among other positions in the company.

Old methods of charging, based on time consumption standards, are dying out due to labor intensity and cumbersomeness. Previously, for each profession, the research institute developed standards for time spent on each job and methods for calculating wages. It was impossible to make a penny mistake in calculating wages, because then the state paid wages - a high responsibility! Anyone who has tried to use these techniques understands that this is a feat.

Now, with the arrival of foreign companies on the market, we have received modern means of tariffing - “grading”, analytical methods based on calculating the complexity of work, significance, responsibility of work, etc. Thus, the methods of Hay Group, Watson Wyatt Woldwide, some companies from the Big Five have already widely known in our market.

Tariffing allows you to create a ranking of positions, behind which there are training and career transfer programs. That is, it creates the basis for new diverse forms of attracting and retaining motivation.

The connection between motivation and company strategy

A payment methodology or formula, no matter how precise, does not by itself solve the problems of retention and incentives unless it is considered in the context of corporate strategy.

Strategic vision has different perspectives for different companies. There are companies that have a vision of one or two years; these are, as a rule, small domestic organizations. Transnational corporations “see” much further. Some corporations spend significant amounts of money on five-year strategic planning but refine the strategy annually.

The strategy has a direct and indirect impact on the motivation system.

The direct impact is that during strategic planning, personnel costs are taken into account, policies are determined in the field of number, structure and development of personnel, in the field of motivation. It also takes into account possible conditions of the labor market, economic development, and other external threats and opportunities.

Members of an organization that has written personnel policies know at any given time the rules by which relationships are built within it. There is more justice here, more stability.

The indirect influence of corporate strategy is no less effective. Employees' knowledge of the organization's goals is in itself motivating, since each employee's action takes on meaning in the context of the overall direction of the organization's efforts. Employees cease to be blind tools of the employer and act consciously, which increases their impact.

Currently, it is this unobvious side of motivation that is attracting more and more attention also because it has several useful “side effects.”

Firstly, during the development of a strategy, company managers unite, since joint creative activity has a team-building effect.
Secondly, all managers simultaneously adopt the same goals - this creates unanimity and consistency in the management team.
Thirdly, the management team, voluntarily or unwittingly, transmits them “down” - to subordinates, then the goals of the organization cease to be a “thing in themselves” for employees, they become their own goals.
Fourthly, the “tree of goals” built from strategy to employee tasks largely determines the corporate culture.
Fifthly, on this basis a management by objectives (MBO) system and other management and motivation mechanisms can be built.

The system of strategic motivation also has a “layered”, hierarchical structure:

long-term motivation
medium-term motivation
short-term motivation
direct motivation

Long-term motivation includes fairly traditional forms of motivation. They directly follow from strategic objectives and form the basis of personnel policy:

payments related to the strategic performance of the company
payments related to long-term employee performance
deferred payment bonuses, options, etc.
additional payments for length of service
intangible forms - titles, recognition of strategically significant results, special position in the hierarchy system, career planning

Medium-term motivation is organized for a period of up to a year and includes fairly traditional mechanisms: quarterly and annual bonuses.

If long-term motivation is aimed at retaining employees in the company, then only some forms of medium-term motivation have this property. So, for example, this is a refusal to pay an annual bonus if an employee quits in the middle of the year, or the employee’s right to benefits if he has worked for a full year, etc. Intangible forms can be both “forgotten old” - results of activities for a month, quarter, etc. and new for us - management by objectives.

Cumulative and deferred forms of motivation work quite effectively, for example, the so-called “token motivation,” when an employee knows for what and how much he earned, but receives it in cash or in kind no earlier than a year later. “Token motivation” was born and is used in pedagogy. In commerce, the experience of introducing a similar system - the “check motivation system” - was undertaken by the author together with V.V. Dokuchaev at Academservice CJSC in 1996.

Short-term motivation - monthly salary and monthly bonus. Intangible forms of motivation are not so effective here.

A promising direction can be considered the system of a corporate “labor exchange” for employees whose competencies are not in demand and are not compensable factors for their position. Such employees can, for an additional fee, participate in work that the company needs from time to time: personnel training, work as a translator, including documentation translator, drafting projects and reports for other departments, expert activities, etc.

Short-term motivation, more than other types of motivation, is aimed at encouraging effective work, and this is where accrual formulas should work. But this is where problems arise because these formulas do not work.

Modern management solves this problem in several ways. The two most famous are. The first, which has already been mentioned, is management by objectives. The second is performance evaluation.

Performance appraisal is a standardized assessment of an employee’s work, organized in such a way that everyone’s work, regardless of position and content of work, is assessed by the immediate supervisor on a hierarchical basis, “pyramidally”, according to uniform criteria. Estimates are made comparable and affect the monthly or quarterly bonus. EAST LINE, for example, implements a four-scale quarterly assessment.

Direct motivation is quite rare in domestic companies. This is a reward, for example, in the form of a one-time payment of an unplanned and unbudgeted small bonus for high results or high significance of the work performed immediately after the work is completed.

It looks like this: the employee reports the result, and the manager hands over the money in an envelope. The size of such a bonus is such that it has a moral rather than a material effect. However, money is not the only way to directly motivate. This could be a personal call from the company president to an employee, a handshake, etc.

The motivating effect of each of the four “layers” of the strategic motivation system has its own “lifespan”. Thus, the effect of direct motivation may disappear with the first censure from the manager directly or after receiving a salary. Short-term motivation declines more slowly, and medium- and long-term motivation fades even more slowly. But this does not mean that long-term motivation will replace the lower levels of motivation. If all four levels of motivation exist in a company, then together they work more effectively, giving strategic stability to the organization, like four legs give stability to a table. Is this why it, like a symbol of strategic stability, has been featured for centuries as an object in any reasoning (“let’s take, for example, a table”), including the one proposed to the reader in this article?

What determines the existence of a nation? What role does national identity play in the formation of an individual and a nation? What is characteristic of interethnic relations in the modern world? What are the causes of interethnic conflicts and what are the ways to overcome them in a civilized manner? What should be the national policy?

In addition to classes and other social groups, the social structure of society is made up of historically established communities of people: tribes, nationalities, nations. Modern humanity is represented by approximately three thousand different peoples, and in our country there are more than a hundred of them. At the same time, there are about 200 independent states in the world. So, most peoples live in multinational states.

No matter how dear the historical memory of our national roots is to us, it is important to understand something else: we all live and will always live together with people of different nationalities. This requires from each of us special personal sensitivity and responsibility in relations with people of other nationalities.

It is worth remembering that different peoples have more commonalities than differences, and their commonality is constantly growing as the interdependence, interconnectedness and integrity of the world intensify.

But, allowing humanity to be preserved in all its inherent diversity and originality, the rapprochement of peoples does not mean the denial of their national characteristics. On the contrary, it is the uniqueness of their culture that serves as a living source of the spiritual wealth of humanity and the uniqueness of world culture.

Ethnic community

The history course examined such historically established forms of community of people as clan, tribe, nationality, and nation. The development of these communities is associated with the growth of productive forces, the expansion of economic ties, and the formation of certain social and cultural prerequisites. Thus, clan and tribe are characteristic of primitive society. A nationality consists of the emergence of classes and states. Capitalism activates economic and cultural ties, creates a single national market, eliminates the economic fragmentation of the medieval state, and unites the various nationalities that comprise it into a single national whole. A nation emerges.

Along with the concepts of “tribe,” “nationality,” and “nation,” the concept of ethnicity has also become established in science. This Greek word means "people" and has no clear definition. An ethnic group is understood as a historically formed set of people in a certain territory who have a common culture, language, and awareness of their unity.

A nation is formed over a long historical period as a result of the connection, “mixing”, “melting” of representatives of various (related and unrelated to each other) tribes and nationalities. Modern scientific theories do not give a clear answer to the question about the characteristics of this community.

At the beginning of the 20th century. The main characteristic of a nation was considered to be a common language, economic life, and mental make-up. One of the theorists of Marxism, K. Kautsky, considered the signs of a nation to be a common territory, language, economic life and traditions. Kautsky did NOT absolutize these characteristics, believing that in the absence of one or more of them, the nation continues to exist. There was another view: only if all the indicated signs are present can we talk about a nation.

Significant changes in the understanding of the nation occurred in the last third of the 20th century. Corresponding to modern ideas, at the stage of nation formation, territorial, linguistic and economic unity are of great importance. Subsequently, under the influence of integration and migration processes, these characteristics often lose their determining role, although they retain their significance.

The unity of a nation, according to researchers, can be supported by both material and, in some nations, psychological factors, common spiritual values, origin and historical destiny.

Another common approach is in which a nation is viewed as a community of citizens of a given state.

In what follows, we will use the word “nation” in the ethnocultural sense, that is, in the sense of the highest form of ethnic community.

Historical memory is a great source of national community and national responsibility. For the Ukrainian people, who were colonially dependent on other states for 600 years, this is especially important.

Remembering the lessons of the past, respecting ancestors, beware of false actions, and being responsible to generations are important functions of historical memory, which helps to unite the national community, but most importantly, makes one feel self-awareness and the right to be independent.

One of the most tangible results of the historical path is national culture: fairy tales, legends, historical stories, songs, dances, music, special artistic skills manifested in temple buildings, icons, home life; this is a folk epic, where national differences clearly appear ("The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is easy to distinguish from "Manas" or "Kalevala"), this is the work of writers, artists, composers, including modern ones, where national flavor and national legends are reflected . First of all, through culture a person is connected with his nation.

The Ukrainian nation arose in the process of a long struggle for its independence, which united and united the Ukrainian people.

The modern Ukrainian language was formed on the basis of the Old Church Slavonic language, but has absorbed a lot of words from other languages - Polish and Latin, Greek, Tatar, Russian, English, German, etc.

It would be wrong to imagine the process of development of peoples as an ideally straight path of movement from one community to another. Humanity is a living, multi-colored world of peoples. It is in constant motion: peoples appear, flourish, disappear. And every nation has its own path, its own destiny.

From history you know that many previously known peoples ((Phoenicians, Scythians, Polovtsians, etc.) went into oblivion, and some modern peoples arose in ancient times (for example, Armenians, Georgians). The English nation took shape in the 16th century ., Ukrainian - in the 17th-18th centuries, German - in the 19th century. Dozens of nations were formed and are being formed in the 20th century. Present-day humanity is represented by all the diversity of historically established forms of community: today clans and tribes, nationalities and nations live on Earth, which is associated with diversity of natural climatic, economic, social and cultural conditions of their life.

As for the concept of “nationality,” it means that a person belongs to a particular nation. In most countries of the world, nationality is determined not by government agencies, but by the person himself voluntarily. Today on Earth there are more and more people who were born from mixed marriages (that is, from parents of different nationalities); they have the right to choose the nationality of each of their parents. In the vast majority of modern democratic states, the choice of nationality is an inalienable right of every individual, one of the conditions of his freedom. Citizens of Ukraine also have this right.

Interethnic relations. Nations are developed ethnic entities. Which arose on the basis of cultural, economic, linguistic, territorial and socio-psychological community. The main factors that determine a nation are: common territory, language, economic life, identical mental traits (mentality) and national identity. There are frequent cases when national identity is transformed into a radical form of nationalism.

Concept of nation and nationalism

Such concepts should be strictly differentiated. If national identity is the driving factor in the preservation of national values, traditions and customs, then the essence of nationalism lies in a worldview, the basis of which is the ideology of the exceptional perfection of one’s people in comparison with representatives of other nations.

Nationalism not only preaches national values, but also promotes their forced imposition on other nations. Nationalism, in turn, also has its own radical form - chauvinism. The essence of chauvinistic ideas lies in the open opposition of the interests of one’s own ethnic group as dominant through methods of inciting national hatred, up to and including attempts to physically destroy representatives of a “foreign” nationality.

Nationalism often does not arise without reason. The subjective prerequisites of nationalism are the suppression of the interests of a particular nation in the past. A striking example is fascist Germany, the pride of whose people was hurt in the post-war period (World War I), which became fertile ground for the emergence of radical National Socialist forces in the state.

The emergence of interethnic conflicts is influenced by the following factors: 1. Territorial disputes 2. Historical tensions between individual nations 3. Discrimination of minorities by the dominant nation in the state 4. The desire of the peoples to create their own statehood.

Attitude to the historical past and traditions of the people

When resolving interethnic conflicts, one should be guided by modern democratic principles, in particular: the exclusion of coercion and violence, the search for mutually beneficial consensus, awareness of the value of human rights, and readiness for dialogue.

Rejection from the historical past of one’s people, its age-old traditions and customs leads to the gradual death of the nation, its cultural decay. In the modern world, national cultural continuity is experiencing a deep crisis. New trends in social and cultural life do not provide for the continuation of traditional values and norms by a new generation in our time.

However, it is on them that the level of national consciousness of humanity and the sense of one’s involvement in the historical past of one’s people depends, regardless of what it was. The main task of educating each generation should be its familiarization with historical cultural and spiritual values and ideals.

In this lesson we will look at the concepts of “nation”, “ethnicity” and “interethnic relations”. We will talk about interethnic conflicts that exist in different countries of the world, about how difficult it is for people to identify themselves in this world. This topic is very important for us, since Russia is a multinational state that strives to prevent the infringement of any ethnic group within its composition.

Topic: Social sphere

Lesson: Nations and Interethnic Relations

From your geography course, you probably learned the term “ethnic group,” which is synonymous with the concept of “people.” Ethnos- this is a historically established stable collection of people in a certain territory who have common features and characteristics of culture and psychological make-up, as well as an awareness of their unity and difference from other similar entities (self-awareness). If you looked at the ethnic map of the Earth, you could get a certain idea about the distribution of ethnic groups. At the same time, the ethnic map is very conditional: looking at the map, you understand that Russians live in a certain territory, Americans live in another, etc. But the world is far from being so clear-cut. Even our state is multinational, that is, not only Russians live in it, but also other ethnic groups. In general, the concept of “ethnicity,” like the entire group of concepts that relate a person to a particular cultural community, is quite ambiguous. These questions are really complex, it’s easy to make a mistake, and the consequences of an error in identifying a person can be extremely serious, including for the entire society as a whole.

Have you ever thought about the question why we call people Germans, but they live in Germany? This is far from a trivial question, and the answer is not so simple. There is such a rhyme: “German-pepper-sausage, bought a horse without a tail,” which has been known since the 17th century, but is still alive. At first glance, it is not clear where these words came from. The fact is that in Rus' all foreigners were called Germans. When for the first time, even under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, foreigners began to come to Russia, they settled in settlements. Among them were representatives of different nations: Dutch, Scots, French, but the majority were Germans. The Russians called these settlements German because “mute” people lived there, unable to speak Russian. The word “mute” in our language still has several meanings. On the one hand, a mute is a person who cannot speak, and on the other hand, not mine is a person who does not belong to my society, a stranger.

In reality, this people, of course, is called Germanic, and we need to talk about the Germanic language, and not about German. But this is how people work: we like to draw a clear line between what is ours and what is not ours. Therefore, accordingly, if we do not understand the culture of another person belonging to another nation, he becomes mute to us. The ancient Latins called all the peoples around them barbarians; they believed that a barbarian is a person who does not speak Latin, but only mutters something, accordingly, his traditions are not worth studying, his culture is primitive.

But the modern world gives us completely different patterns of behavior. We cannot treat other people as barbarians or as dumb. All people on Earth are equal and close to each other, because we live together, which means there can be no strangers in our world.

The danger lies in the fact that our self-identification, our self-determination, the answer to the question: “Who am I?” - this is a rather complex process. Not all people are completely sure what nationality and ethnic group they belong to. On the one hand, we can say that the person is Russian, since this is written down at his request in his passport, but who he really is is a completely different question. In reality, he is a person who feels like someone. Every person belongs to one culture or another and considers some language to be their native language. Based on this very complex palette, which has many components, the people are formed.

A problem arises in this regard. In modern society we live in an extremely mixed way, rather than in narrow local groups. In ancient times, this was quite possible; people lived in clusters, that is, there were tribes of people who were similar in all the characteristics that we have specified: closeness of language, cultural closeness, physiological closeness. These people really were a kind of national community and lived unitedly; everyone who lived outside their habitat were neighboring peoples. Tribe- a collection of people, usually similar in physical type, united (in one form or another) by tribal relations, a common language and territory. At that time, people easily managed to maintain their cultural identity; such a clear self-identification was only beneficial, as it formed loyalty to their tribe or community. After all, man is a biosocial being; we are unthinkable without society. But the modern world has become very confused, it is all local, we can no longer say “where our tribe ends and the neighboring one begins.” And in the modern world, we all need to learn to live together, although learning is always really very difficult.

Some of you may have read Kipling's work "Mowgli", in any case, you know exactly what this work is about. And we are talking about a boy who was raised by a pack of wolves. By the way, in the history of mankind there were cases when very young children ended up in certain animal communities, and the animals raised this child as their own. The question arises: what is the nationality of the Mowgli children? Since Mowgli was born into a family of people who belonged to a certain cultural and national community, in theory, he should also be a representative of some people. Due to certain life circumstances, he found himself among the wolves, but he remained a man. At the end of the book, Mowgli returns to people, but who is he? Outwardly, Mowgli looks like a representative of the peoples of India, but by nature he is a wolf cub, because after all, we are all determined by our environment.

If you were born into a Russian family, but lived in the USA or Canada all your life and adopted American culture as your own, then you can hardly be considered Russian. You roast turkey on Thanksgiving and set off fireworks on Independence Day, you have become a true American. You will not become Russian thanks to a Russian surname, because your habits are like those of a typical American.

The same thing will happen to a person who, due to some circumstances, finds himself in Russia for a long period. According to his passport, he can be Portuguese, Indian, Finnish, anyone, but if this person grew up in this cultural environment, then, most likely, he will become what his environment wants him to see. Therefore, when we talk about interethnic relations, we must, first of all, talk about intercultural relations. The more we know about the culture of neighboring people, the easier it is for us to communicate. People become who they are by perceiving the achievements of the environment in which they live. And if these people also do good, then it doesn’t matter what nationality they are.

When humanity lived in pockets, that is, in a monoethnic world, there were no special problems with self-identification. Yes, people communicated, but they understood that in a foreign community there were different rules and different rules. But now all our “tribes” have united, interethnic relations have emerged. Interethnic (international) relations- relations between ethnic groups (peoples), covering all spheres of public life. We need to learn to understand the people who live next to us, and at the same time we need to demand that the people who live next to us learn to understand us. Only in this way will society become strong and united, and will be free from problems of interethnic interaction, which are not so rare in the world today.

When we say that interethnic problems in Russia are serious, this does not mean that the Russian Federation is the only country in the world that is faced with a lack of mutual understanding between ethnic groups on its territory. Such problems exist almost everywhere, in every country in the world. Even if we look at Europe, which is quite prosperous from the point of view of interethnic dialogue, we will find that quite a few countries have interethnic problems. These problems, as a rule, fit into the concept of “separatism.” Separatism- a movement towards independence of a group or organization seeking to separate from a larger association. For example, France has been fighting Corsican separatism for many years: a terrorist organization has been operating on the island of Corsica for a long time, fighting for the independence of this island from France. Similar manifestations of separatism are observed in Spain, where the Basque people are fighting for their own independence, again with the help of terrorist acts. A lot of films have been made and many books have been written about the struggle of Great Britain against the IRA - the Irish Republican Army, which is also the clearest example of an interethnic conflict. If we look at North America, it turns out that in Canada there is a French-speaking part, and there is an English-speaking part, and it is the province of Quebec (French-speaking) that is stubbornly fighting to create its own state.

There are similar problems in the East. If we look at the Middle East, we will see an almost insoluble knot of contradictions associated with the Arab-Israeli confrontation. In essence, they are practically one people (the Semitic-Hamitic group), their languages are very similar, but the contradictions that have developed between the peoples historically have still not been resolved. An almost mononational state - China - also suffers from interethnic conflicts, because in reality China consists of a huge number of peoples and nationalities. The Chinese government is trying to keep this huge mass of people in its hands, but within China the Uyghur Autonomous Region stands out, whose residents are very different from the Chinese in terms of culture and language and want to secede. As a rule, Japan is cited as an example of an absolutely mono-ethnic state and, at the same time, there is a very small group of the indigenous population of the Japanese islands. In fact, today's Japanese are an alien people, but originally a people called the Ainu lived on these islands. These Ainu were driven out and now live on a very small group of small Japanese islands. The Ainu make up 1% of the Japanese population, but they are still trying to achieve some kind of national rights for themselves.

It is good if this struggle is exclusively peaceful, but many examples of wars based on interethnic conflicts can be given. This is why the problem of interethnic dialogue is especially acute for our state. Russia is multinational; the Constitution of our country states that the Russian people are multinational. Imagine the situation if the government begins to “play” on this national field, saying that some people here are exceptional, while others are secondary, of little use, defective. Then our state will simply cease to exist. Imagine that people who call themselves nationalists, that is, they say that they are fighting for the purity of their people, they will begin to defend the exclusivity of any people within the whole of Russia or a certain territory of Russia. It is from this moment, from this exclamation, that the history of our state will end. If we say that Russia is only for Russians, this means that we are losing the status of the Russian Federation, consisting of a huge number of subjects. To say that any of the subjects of our federation is intended only for the life of the titular people means losing the status of a Great Power. Speculation on issues of interethnic relations always ends in disaster. Any attempts to drive a wedge between representatives of different nations is playing with fire, which will lead to disaster.

We live in a very rich and happy country. In order for this country to continue to remain so, we must be attentive to both ourselves and those around us. Only in this way will we be able to increase the wealth that we inherited from our ancestors.

And in the next, final lesson, we will talk about what constitutes deviant behavior.

Bibliography

1. Kravchenko A.I. Social science 8. - M.: Russian word.

2. Nikitin A.F. Social studies 8. - M.: Bustard.

3. Bogolyubov L.N., Gorodetskaya N.I., Ivanova L.F. / Ed. Bogolyubova L.N., Ivanova L.F. Social science 8. - M.: Education.

1. Single portal Social Studies ().

2. Scientific and educational magazine “Skepticism” ().

Homework

1. Explain why the issue of self-identification for a person is so difficult in the modern world.

2. What is separatism? Give some examples of hotbeds of separatism in the world.

3. * Write an essay on the topic: “A person who hates another people does not love his own” (N. Dobrolyubov).

Detailed solution Paragraph § 15 in social studies for 11th grade students, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, N.I. Gorodetskaya, L.F. Ivanova 2014

Question 1. What is a nation? How is nationality determined? Why is the policy of multiculturalism criticized?

A nation is a socio-economic, cultural, political and spiritual community of the industrial era.

A nation is a historically established part of humanity, united by a stable community of language, territory, economic life and culture.

Nationality is a person’s belonging to a certain ethnic community of people, distinguished by the characteristics of language, culture, psychology, traditions, customs, and way of life.

Multiculturalism is one of the aspects of tolerance, which consists in the requirement for the parallel existence of cultures for the purpose of their mutual penetration, enrichment and development in the universal mainstream of mass culture. The idea of multiculturalism is put forward mainly in economically developed Western countries, where there is a significant influx of immigrants. In modern Europe, Multiculturalism presupposes, first of all, the inclusion in its cultural field of elements of the cultures of immigrants from the “third world” countries.

Critics of multiculturalism may argue for the cultural and social integration of various ethnic and cultural groups in accordance with the existing laws and values of the country. In addition, critics may insist on the assimilation of different ethnic and cultural groups, ultimately leading to a single national identity.

Questions and tasks for the document

From the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Preamble

We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, are united by a common destiny on our land, affirming human rights and freedoms, civil peace and harmony, preserving the historically established state unity, based on the generally recognized principles of equality and self-determination of peoples, honoring the memory of our ancestors who conveyed to us love and respect for To the Fatherland, faith in goodness and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and asserting the inviolability of its democratic foundation, striving to ensure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, based on responsibility for our Motherland before present and future generations, recognizing ourselves as part of the world community, we accept the CONSTITUTION of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

1. Everyone has the right to determine and indicate their nationality. No one can be forced to determine and indicate their nationality.

2. Everyone has the right to use their native language, to freely choose the language of communication, education, training and creativity.

1. Everyone is guaranteed freedom of thought and speech.

2. Propaganda or agitation that incites social, racial, national or religious hatred and enmity is not permitted. Promotion of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority is prohibited.

1. The state language of the Russian Federation throughout its entire territory is Russian.

3. The Russian Federation guarantees all its peoples the right to preserve their native language and create conditions for its study and development.

Question 1. How is the people who adopted this Constitution characterized in the Preamble?

The multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common destiny on their land, affirming human rights and freedoms, civil peace and harmony, preserving the historically established state unity, based on the generally recognized principles of equality and self-determination of peoples, honoring the memory of our ancestors who conveyed to us love and respect for the Fatherland, faith in goodness and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and affirming the inviolability of its democratic foundation, striving to ensure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, based on responsibility for our Motherland before present and future generations, recognizing ourselves as part of the world community, we accept the CONSTITUTION of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

Question 2. What provisions of the Preamble reflect the understanding of the nation in the ethnic meaning of the word?

Everyone has the right to determine and indicate their nationality. No one can be forced to determine and indicate their nationality.

Everyone has the right to use their native language, to freely choose the language of communication, education, training and creativity.

Question 3. What is the humanistic approach to interethnic relations implemented in this document?

Republics have the right to establish their own official languages. In government bodies, local government bodies, and government institutions of the republics, they are used along with the state language of the Russian Federation.

Question 4. What manifestations of nationalist views are prohibited in the Constitution?

Propaganda or agitation that incites social, racial, national or religious hatred and enmity is not permitted. Promotion of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority is prohibited.

Question 5. How can one explain the approval of the Russian language as the state language?

The state language of the Russian Federation throughout its territory is Russian.

The state language is the language provided for by the Constitution of the country, used in legislation, office work and legal proceedings. This is the language in which government authorities communicate with citizens.

SELF-TEST QUESTIONS

Question 1. In what two meanings is the concept “nation” used? What are the characteristics of a civil nation?

The concept of “nation” is used today in two main meanings. The first connects the nation with the ethnic group. The Greek word "ethnos" means "people". An ethnos, according to a number of scientists, is understood as a historically formed set of people in a certain territory who have a common culture, language, and most importantly, a consciousness of their unity.

A nation develops over a long period of time as a result of the rapprochement, “fusion” of representatives of various (related and unrelated) tribes and nationalities. Naturally, the concept of “nation”, designed to reflect the most complex social processes, also crystallized for quite a long time.

At the beginning of the 20th century. The main features of a nation were considered to be a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up. Modern scientists agree that at the stage of nation formation these signs are of great importance. At the same time, the unity of a nation can be supported by a common identity, spiritual and cultural values, as well as historical destiny.

Along with the ethnocultural one, there is another understanding of the nation. A nation is understood as a cultural and political community of citizens of a certain state. In addition to some cultural factors (language), a nation in this understanding is bound by belonging to one state. It is in this sense that the concept of a civil nation is used.

When using the concept of “nation”, we must remember these two meanings - ethnic and general civil. The meanings may change depending on the context. For example, in the phrases “national anthem”, “Russian national orchestra” the concept “national” has a general civil meaning, in the phrases “national tradition”, “national costume” or “national dance” - ethnic.

Question 2. What is tolerance in interethnic relations?

Tolerance is the willingness to favorably recognize and accept the behavior, beliefs and views of other people and organizations that differ from one's own. Moreover, even in the case when these beliefs or views are not shared, are not approved and may even be harmful to everyone.

Tolerance in interethnic relations is not just tolerance towards another nation, but a willingness to understand another opinion without imposing one’s principles, views, and beliefs in relation to the nation; the ability to find a compromise, so there is a two-way process.

Question 3. Expand the functions of national identity in the formation and unity in the modern life of the nation.

The functions of historical memory and national self-awareness in the formation and unity in the modern life of a nation lie in the fact that the nation understands the cultural heritage of its ancestors and tries to continue their activities, take an example from them or, conversely, beware of their mistakes. A member of the national society develops patriotism. In connection with all these processes, cultural activities and the formation of the state develop.

Question 4. What is the policy of multiculturalism? What do you see as its strengths and weaknesses?

Multiculturalism is a policy aimed at preserving and developing cultural differences in a single country and in the world as a whole, and the theory or ideology that justifies such a policy.

Multiculturalism is opposed to the concept of the "melting pot", where all cultures are supposed to merge into one. Examples include Canada, which cultivates an approach to different cultures as parts of the same mosaic, and the United States, where the concept of a “melting pot” was traditionally proclaimed, but the “salad bowl” concept is now recognized as more politically correct.

Multiculturalism is one of the aspects of tolerance, which consists in the requirement for the parallel existence of cultures for the purpose of their mutual penetration, enrichment and development in the universal mainstream of mass culture. The idea of multiculturalism is put forward mainly in economically developed Western countries, where there is a significant influx of immigrants. In modern Europe, multiculturalism presupposes, first of all, the inclusion in its cultural field of elements of cultures of immigrants from “third world” countries.

Critics of multiculturalism argue that the result is a complete destruction of centuries-old cultural foundations and developed cultural traditions, since such mixing always leads to homogenization. In their opinion, if the low level of cultural development of migrants undoubtedly increases, then the high level of culture of the target country of multiculturalism invariably falls.

In the 2010s, a number of European right-wing, center-right and conservative leaders said they considered multiculturalism in their countries a failure.

Question 5. What are the most typical causes of interethnic conflicts?

The history of interethnic relations is filled with manifestations of hostility and intransigence, which often led to conflicts, sometimes tragic. And today, unfortunately, interethnic conflicts are not a thing of the past.

In interethnic clashes, people die and material assets are destroyed. There are many reasons for this, and they should be looked for not only in economic problems, in unemployment, in the deterioration of the environmental situation, in anti-democratic laws, etc. The suppression of a nation causes especially severe consequences (infringement of the rights of people based on nationality, persecution of national religion, culture, language) or belittling it, neglecting national feelings.

National feelings are very vulnerable. According to the observations of psychologists, manifestations of national hatred cause people to feel a state of deep pessimism, despair, and hopelessness. Consciously or unconsciously, they seek support in a nationally close environment, believing that it is there that they will find peace of mind and protection. The nation seems to withdraw into itself and become isolated.

History shows that in such cases there is often a desire to find someone to blame for all the troubles. And since their underlying causes often remain hidden from mass consciousness, the main culprit most often appears to be people of another nationality living in the given or neighboring territory. Gradually, an “enemy image” is emerging - a most dangerous social phenomenon. (Think about these phenomena and draw conclusions.)

Question 6. What is the danger of nationalism?

Nationalist ideology can also become a destructive force. Nationalism manifests its socio-political orientation in different ways. Thus, movements associated with the ideas of nationalism and the revival of one’s nation played an important role in the anti-colonial struggle of the peoples of America, Africa, and Asia.

However, as historical experience testifies, especially the experience of the 20th century, nationalism from the ideology and policy of the struggle against national oppression is increasingly turning into an assertion in word and deed of the superiority and even exclusivity of “one’s” nation.

The policy of nationalism received its extreme expression in countries with fascist regimes. The misanthropic idea of “racial superiority” and the eradication of “inferior” races and peoples resulted in the practice of genocide - the extermination of entire population groups based on nationality.

Question 7. What is the essence of the humanistic approach to ethnic problems?

In tolerance, tolerance. Recognition that people have the right to live according to the laws of their ethnic group, if this does not contradict the conditions of community life and relationships with other ethnic groups.

TASKS

Question 1. Do you think the problem of interethnic relations affects each of us? Give reasons for your answer.

Affects. Even if you have excluded yourself from communicating with foreigners, then at least you must explain to your children “who is who” and warn them about the possible, likely negative consequences of communicating with certain representatives of other nationalities.

There are a lot of people and the problem of different people living together will always exist.

Question 2. Scientists say: aggressive nationalism is characteristic of poorly educated segments of the population and is often a way of self-justification for one’s own inability to think politically. Do you agree with this point of view? Support your answer with specific historical examples.

Aggressive nationalism is characteristic not only of the poorly educated segments of the population, but also of those who adopted Nazi ideology. Moreover, in the case of aggressiveness of the poorly educated segments of the population, their aggression is in the nature of a short-term outbreak, because they have no time to be aggressive as they are busy with pressing problems. If an entire nation arms itself with aggression, declaring itself God’s chosen ones or Aryans, then in this case the aggression can only be stopped by drastic and decisive actions.

Question 3. In the text of the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities” read paragraph 1 of Art. 1. Prepare answers to the questions: 1) what, according to the law, should be understood by: a) extremist activity, b) extremist organization, c) extremist materials? 2) What actions in the sphere of national and interethnic relations does the law classify as extremist activity?

1) extremist activity (extremism):

Violent change in the foundations of the constitutional system and violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation;

Public justification of terrorism and other terrorist activities;

Inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred;

Propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of a person on the basis of his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;

Violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and citizen, depending on his social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation or attitude to religion;

Obstructing citizens from exercising their voting rights and the right to participate in a referendum or violating the secrecy of voting, coupled with violence or the threat of its use;

Obstruction of the legitimate activities of state bodies, local governments, election commissions, public and religious associations or other organizations, combined with violence or the threat of its use;

Committing crimes for the reasons specified in paragraph "e" of part one of Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;

Propaganda and public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols or paraphernalia or symbols that are confusingly similar to Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or public display of paraphernalia or symbols of extremist organizations;

Public calls for the implementation of these acts or mass distribution of obviously extremist materials, as well as their production or storage for the purpose of mass distribution;

Public knowingly false accusation of a person holding a public office of the Russian Federation or a public office of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation of committing, during the performance of his official duties, the acts specified in this article and constituting a crime;

Organization and preparation of these acts, as well as incitement to their implementation;

Financing of these acts or other assistance in their organization, preparation and implementation, including through the provision of educational, printing and material and technical base, telephone and other types of communications or the provision of information services;

2) extremist organization - a public or religious association or other organization in respect of which, on the grounds provided for by this Federal Law, the court made a decision that has entered into legal force to liquidate or prohibit activities in connection with the implementation of extremist activities;

3) extremist materials - documents or information on other media intended for publication, calling for the implementation of extremist activities or substantiating or justifying the need for such activities, including the works of the leaders of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, the Fascist Party of Italy, publications substantiating or justifying national and (or) racial superiority or justifying the practice of committing military or other crimes aimed at the complete or partial destruction of any ethnic, social, racial, national or religious group.