April 30, 2003
People and Populace
One of the main conceptual distinctions that we need to make when dealing with the inhabitants of a country is between a People, as opposed to a Populace.
A human population deserves the name of a People, when its individual members (a) believe themselves to be part of the People, (b) believe in word and deed that all other members of the population are part of the People, (c) believe that all non-members are not part of the People.
A population that does not meet the above criteria can be termed a Populace.
Criterion (a) is that of self-definition. For example, most members of the population of Greece say "I am Greek".
Criterion (b) is that of acceptance.of others. Someone might say "I am Greek", but he must be accepted as such by other members of the population, i.e., other Greeks. This acceptance must be both in word and in deed. That is, if one accepts someone as Greek, but does not behave towards them as to other Greeks in general, then he does not really accept them as members of the Greek people.
Criterion (c) is that of exclusivity, or "either-or". A People consists of its members only.
Peoples are formed in diverse ways. But, their main characteristic is that the genetic elements participating in them are fused sufficiently so as to create sufficient internal consistency (a,b) and differentiation (c) from other people.
Populaces are formed when diverse population elements come to live together. These may evolve into Peoples, as for example the Spanish and Native Americans did in many Latin American countries. But, they may not, as in Turks and their Balkan subjects.
Peoples can also degenerate into Populaces, for example, through non-assimilated immigration, or through ideology and religion (as in e.g., the Protestant-Catholic divide in many European nations).
It is interesting to note that Peoples dominate the Old World, while Populaces dominate the New World. When the Old World was culturally dominant, the nations of the New World tried to become Peoples by integrating their genetic components (melting-pot ideology, ideology of mestizaje, etc.) and distancing themselves from Old Europe through revolution and critique of the "old ways".
The ascendancy of US power, coupled with the continuing disintegration of the main population component of the US (i.e., the "whites") that was once close to becoming a People (although never quite achieving it), has signified an ideological turn of the tide which may end up (if unchecked) transforming the Peoples of the Old World into Populaces.
Posted by Dienekes at April 30, 2003 05:46 PM | PermaLink
Excellent topic.
Could a Populace be then a case where many People(S) live in a country or are they incompatible to constitute one? Can it only be -by definition- a one People and the other population which are not in it to constitute in all a Populace?
In the latinamerican reality there exists moreover a mixed phenomenon between race and social stratification (European-Mestizos-Indians) do to the fact our socities are highly piramidal not only in population but in wealth aswell.
The top left "Teutonic type" count d'Andlau is my great-grand-father, count Hubert d'Andlau who was a French senator and a member of the German Reichstag and who died in 1959.
I would therefore be very grateful if you could give me the references (book title, editor, year of edition, etc.) of this interesting article by G. Montandon of which I had never heard before.