Низовцев Юрий Михайлович : другие произведения.

Determining the community integrity

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  • Аннотация:
    An exact definition of an integral community has not yet been found, whereas one can proceed from the general concept of an integral community as a union of individuals based on common principles and values of beingness, both material and spiritual, found by them in the course of historical development in a certain territory, which can be attempted specify.
  
  
  Key words: person, consciousness, information, integrity, community, civilization, culture.
  
  An integral community, apparently, is association of individuals on the basis of common principles and values of beingness, both material and spiritual, found by them in the course of historical development in some territory.
  However, the definition, given by us, requires the specification. Therefore, first we turn to the known definitions of the integral communities.
  In Russia such community is usually called an ethnos, which means, in translation from the Greek - the people, and this term is clarified by researchers by the definitions, largely not coincident.
  The first and most recognized definition of ethnos was given by S.M. Shirokogorov: "Ethnos is a group of people speaking the same language, recognizing their uniform origin, possessing a complex of customs, a way of life, kept and sanctified by tradition and distinguished by it from such and others" [1].
  Let's note that not all known uniform sets of people fall under this definition. For example, in China are used two various languages - on structure and features very far from each other, historical origin of primary groups of Chinese is too variously just as customs and a way of life, but they already several thousands of years consider themselves by the uniform people (ethnos in domestic terminology).
  L. N. Gumilev spoke concerning ethnos as follows: "Members of ethnos are united by the general stereotype of behavior having a certain communication with a landscape (the place of development of ethnos), and, as a rule, including religion, the political and economic system. This stereotype of behavior usually is called national character" [2].
  Gumilev adds the following characteristics of ethnos in his understanding to this definition: biological similarity of people in ethnos, like an ant hill; a form of adaptation of people to a landscape; opposition of people of one ethnos to other ethnic educations; similar behavior of people of one ethnos; general origin and synchronous history; possession of the steady evolving systems; certain hierarchy.
  The disadvantage of this definition is the uncertainty of the concept of the stereotype of behavior, an indication of non-obligation of inclusion in a general stereotype of the behavior of religion, political and economic structure, which testifies to the blurriness of the concept of ethnos in Gumilev's interpretation. In addition, there is no reference to the attitude of people of the ethnos to culture and traditions.
  Yu.V. Bromley in his dualistic theory defines the concept of ethnic people (in fact, ethnoses) as a combination of ethnic language, everyday culture, ritual, ethnic self-awareness and natural-geographical, economic-social, state-legal and other conditions for the formation and existence of ethnic elements. Such ethno-social organisms constitute a certain socio-economic integrity, acting in the form of a tribe, a nationality, a nation [3].
  It is known that in many ethnoses there is no common ethnic language and, especially, - there are no general ceremonies, household culture, there is also no general ethnic consciousness (it still should be reached), natural and geographical conditions. For example, there are no first three features in Russia, China, India, Indonesia. Besides, Bromley did not include in any capacity the attitude of people of the ethnos towards religion.
  According to the system and static (component) theory (G.E. Markov, V.V. Pimenov) the ethnos is considered as historically arisen and evolving difficult self-replicating and self-regulating social system possessing polysynthetic composition (structure). Its components are indicated: the reproduction of the ethnos as a part of the population and its inherent demographic structure; production and economic activity; system of social relations and institutions; language; way of life, customs, rituals; system of personal contact [4, p. 5-18].
  There are many common words in this definition, but there is no indication of the main features of the ethnos, as, indeed, and at the above researchers. In addition, many ethnic groups lack a common language, way of life, rituals (China, Spain, Switzerland, Canada).
  In the works of A. S. Arutyunov and N. N. Cheboksarova. is offered to consider ethnoses as areas of the increased information density, as well as is noted special importance of process of inter-generational transmission of information for ensuring continuity and stability of ethnic system in time. Stadial types of communities (tribes, peoples, the nations) are considered as three different types of information density [5].
  This approach is obvious and does not carry significant information, since any development presupposes both an increase in the density of information and its transmission, but the authors could not indicate the essential features of an ethnos.
  Thus, all the above definitions of the ethnos do not reflect all of its inalienable features, among which would be highlighted the basic features and the main characteristic of the ethnos, which makes the community as holistic (integral) and developing.
  In order to find these basic features of a holistic community (ethnos), it is necessary to try by means of facts and some generalizations to mark out them.
  The material given below in the text, shows that the facts found and their analytical-synthetic processing indicate that the main features of any integral community (ethnos in Gumilev's terminology) are as follows: the historical formation of community in certain territories creating its stability outside a zone of activity of neighbors; the communication order including one language or several languages for communication and relations in the territory of placement of community; similar way of life; the special civil culture as well as the assimilation of culture of the previous communities and neighboring communities.
  But above these features of an integral community is the main - self-consciousness of the community, more and more finding itself in the course of uneven development of the community and its response to all external and internal factors, enriching in collision with them, and pushing thereby the community forward, nominating it in case of success in number of leaders; or stopping it in this motion at insufficient activity of the highest consciousness (self-consciousness) of leaders of the community, and leaving it thereby in thousand-year hibernation; or leading the community to disintegration and dissolution of its population in other communities with loss of the territory, language and even culture, as happened, for example, on the Baltic coast with northwestern Slavs assimilated by the Germans because of the weakness of their self-consciousness, their small number, the continuous and strong pressure of aggressive neighbors, that did not allow them defending own identity(integrity) as well as Hittites, Assyrians, in difference, for example, from Poles, Danes, Dutch, Armenians, Georgians.
  The self-consciousness of the community is reflected, for the most part, in ideas, values and actions of the intellectual-elite stratum, continuously fed by the rest of the population, which allocates from itself the most prepared representatives for managing and creative activity as community leaders.
  Leadership of the power elite ends when it starts to act against the masses, which nominated it, exclusively in their own interests, despite the help of propaganda and force pressure - detaching and contrasting thereby own consciousness to consciousness of the masses: the elite is replaced with the accumulation of dissatisfaction with the masses as conditions of life (poverty, semi-military or martial law, with all their restrictions, impeding normal nutrition, entertainment and reproduction of the population), which relates to the sphere of of the lowest consciousness, aspiring to receiving acceptable sensations, so and in the case the accumulation of dissatisfaction with conditions of public life (lack of civil liberties, scandalous inequality, the absence of the social elevators interfering effective manifestation of knowledge and abilities accumulated by each person, stratum restrictions, etc.) that relates to the sphere of the highest (developing) consciousness.
  The boiling point is expressed in mass disturbances at the key points of the country, and the antagonism manifested is resolved in replacing the leaders of management who completely detached from the masses by others, although they may not be better than the previous ones (China is the most vivid example of such processes).
  It follows from the definition presented by us that the essence of an integral (holistic) community, or an ethnos as a developing community of people is the collectivist self-consciousness of a community, without which there is not exist the possibility of the community developing in its integrity when this collectivist consciousness interacts with the external surroundings and within the community itself through collective actions of the community.
  Along with that the possibility of development of community in its integrity does not exist without hookup to action of self-consciousness of community of action of the lowest collectivist consciousness in case of essential recession in social development for turning a development course on more favorable.
  The presented brief analysis of the essence of an integral community is already capable of giving an idea of the main causes of the disintegration of communities that appear to be powerful and invincible.
  These reasons consist either in the absence of reaching by the community a common - voluntarily agreed - for all its nationalities of self- consciousness, or in inadequate consciousness of itself, which always takes a considerable time, and any artificial reduction of this time, also as an attempt to shorten the pregnancy period, will not help here.
  Therefore, for example, in the USSR the proclamation of a Soviet man as the best sample of such in the world turned out to be a fiction. The absence of real changes in his self-consciousness led him in the result of lose the goal by the community (building communism) to a throwback - to capitalism so condemned in the USSR (and correctly condemned), where, naturally, he found only mockery at himself.
  Along with this reason of the collapse of the USSR, there was also another reason: there was no possibility of reach in this artificial community of a common self-consciousness for all its nationalities which were at various stages of development of self-consciousness that clearly after the collapse of the USSR showed the descent of the republics of Central Asia to feudalism or even to Asian satrapies, and the republics of the Baltics, on the contrary, have directed towards the European Union.
  It is curious that the same problems confront the US, since there is no common self-consciousness for the three main groups of the population: the natives of the countries of Europe, the natives of Africa and natives of Latin America. In addition, this community may not even think about awareness of itself, both due to its own recent emergence and because of the rat robbery of all other communities in the world, due to which, in fact, the United States is still kept itself on the "crest of the wave of consumption."
  Below, with the example of Assyria, it is shown - to what sooner or later this policy leads. That is, those communities, which do not have internal integrity (the sufficient level and coverage of self-awareness) can be hold within of a single state either by force or benefit, or their combination with the activation of propaganda (deception), collapsing and dissolving in other communities immediately after the disappearance of that or another.
  Perhaps, several more examples we will manage to show in addition the leading role of collectivist self-consciousness in formation and development of an integral communities and the lowest collectivist consciousness - in correction of motion of community through its "shaking-up" during the crisis periods by the removal of imperious elite, holding thereby community from rotting or disintegration.
  For this purpose, we will take a view of several communities known for their long-term development which still, despite many catastrophic events in their history, during the millennia remain, not disintegrating, i.e., preserve the identity(integrity).
  The self-consciousness of Chinese about four thousand years ago during an era of formation of their complete community began to develop in conditions of relative isolation - close to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in an area favorable for effective agriculture: this area was cut off by mountain ranges from other territories where a civilization started, which are relatively close to each other: India, Mesopotamia, Egypt.
  Apparently, because of isolation, the figurative (hieroglyphic) writing, characteristic of emerging civilizations has survived to this day in China, unlike the vast majority of other countries in the world.
  The self-consciousness of Chinese in this isolation developed almost autonomously. This autonomy kept figurativeness of thinking, and created also increased susceptibility of Chinese to new if that promises benefit, but limited their opportunities themselves successfully to aspire to new. The figurativeness of thinking affected hypocrisy, characteristic of Chinese, for the sake of profit.
  Early cultural development and formation of effective for development the hierarchical system of the state (Confucian), in comparison with archaic structures of management of the neighbors, allowed Chinese, feeling the superiority before these neighbors, to consider the surroundings as barbaric, and they keep this sense of superiority hitherto. This factor not only in a considerable measure influenced development of the self-consciousness of Chinese to high degree, but also allowed to hold this degree, despite all cataclysms in long history of the Chinese community.
  High density and population; labor-intensive, permanent irrigation works, requiring order, concentration of attention; hierarchy and systematics, developed in the Chinese people's self-consciousness a collectivist attitude towards life with the prevalence of the interests of the community in relation to interests of the individual, which was reflected in the actual primacy of traditions and the preference of form to content, but along with that, in the formation of a sense of duty, and practicality, resulting from the love of order, led to a consumer attitude towards religion - to God they turn mainly in order to ask something - such a contradiction in the character of Chinese on "freedom", if it is achieved, leads to preference by them of their own material interests to the public interests.
  Thus, the self-consciousness of Chinese developed in interaction with the specified environment factors, acquiring features, which did not allow under all cataclysms during long term to disappear to the Chinese community, and opposite, has nominated it to the leading countries of the world to date.
  In other words, having appeared about 4 thousand years ago in content, sufficient for the formation of the state, the self-consciousness of the Chinese community has not been lost, but thanks to the specified features, it gradually consolidated, having covered and united the numerous ethnic groups of the region, in spite of clashes, wars, invasions of barbarians and coups, having overcome all these catastrophic phenomena not without help in crisis situations of collectivist lowest consciousness, and not having allowed the community to disintegrate or dissolve in other communities.
  The self-consciousness of the Jews began to develop about 3.5 thousand years ago in the era of the formation of their integral community in the Middle East in the middle reaches of the Euphrates River after the merger of Semitic-speaking nomadic pastoralists with husbandmen of the desert oases, in contact with large states - Egypt, Assyria, Babylon. The Jew community had a relatively short historical period of time for the existence in the form of an independent state on the border of the second and first millennium BC. Nevertheless, the main achievement of the Jews over this period in comparison with most other peoples of that time was the creation of a monotheistic religion, fixed in the main positions in the Old Testament. Although only a tribal god was reproduced in this religion, it nevertheless drew Jews to a single source of everything that made it easier for them to develop their own culture, and their religion formed the basis of Christianity and Islam. This awareness of themselves, reflected in the Old Testament, did not allow Jews to dissolve among other peoples, since it highlighted them to a higher religious and cultural integrity among other holistic communities of those times.
  Relatively small number of Jews were at the crossroads of migration and interaction of different peoples. They were being conquered, resettled, sold, destroyed. Therefore, the usual practice of denoting a nationality by tradition and belonging to the national-religious community after the final loss of statehood was changed by marking by Jew of everyone who has a Jewish mother, and belonging to Jewish community had been determined primarily on the basis of recognition of the relevant religious canons.
  As a result of attempts to forcibly assimilate of Jews by neighboring large state entities in the Middle East and actual deprive their own territory, Jews began to gradually settle in different countries, on the one hand, being applied to orders of the respective country, but, on the other hand, steadily keeping own customs and religion (Judaism).
  Similar unstable position developed in their self-consciousness a certain duality which was felt by peoples, which have accepted them, especially as Jews having kept a few thousand years the high culture and hereditary skills, as a rule, were engaged more successfully in difficult kinds of intellectual activity, monetary circulation, art, trade and crafts, than less developed indigenous people, and by that could not hide the superiority over indigenous peoples, causing their envy and persecution under various pretexts. This superiority was maintained by ancient cultural and religious roots and strict following to ethnic roots as well as need to support each other among other peoples, even more uniting all Jews, despite their dispersion on the world.
  Therefore, the self-consciousness of Jews includes pride for the antiquity of their community and the significant contribution to formation of a world civilization in the cultural and technological relations and also fidelity to ancient traditions, contrary to pressure upon them of traditions of the peoples, which accepted them.
  Thus, the self-consciousness of Jews developed in interaction with extremely adverse factors of the surroundings, but thanks to this it strengthened and reached such religious and ideological and cultural level that it did not allow to this community to be dissolved at resettlement among a big number of other peoples, not only having overcome numerous catastrophes on the historical way, but also rather recently having recreated own state and having restored communication of Jews in an own classic language - Hebrew. Besides, higher level of collective self-consciousness of Jews in comparison with self-consciousness of other communities in combination with their absent-mindedness over the world promotes leadership of representatives of Jews in world elite, for what they were so hated by Hitler as the leading plutocrats.
  From this brief review, it is evident that not external factors for about four thousand years developed the communities of Chinese and Jews. They only served as the surroundings, with which the self-consciousness of the corresponding community interacted, strengthening or, on the contrary, weakening it.
  Having formed up to distinct and strong forms: language, cultural-religious, technological, domestic, i.e. having behind our back a powerful support in the form of awareness of ourselves as cohesive acquired spiritual and cultural values, in particular, the community of Chinese, despite such powerful negative impacts on it as internecine wars, numerous invasions of wild peoples, the transition of state administration to the hands of foreigners, has not disintegrated, as and the community of Jews, despite the dispersion of Jews around the world without support on own territory, the persecution of them by the whole world for thousand years, has not disappeared, but, on the contrary, was been ralling, and even introduced in qualities of a means of communication among themselves, the own ancient, forgotten language - Hebrew, and restored the Jewish state.
  As and the communities of Chinese and Jews, many others managed to preserve their integrity. Particularly unfavorable conditions for this development process were originating for Armenians and Georgians, which began from VI century BC.
  The self-consciousness of high level, formed in these communities yet 3000 years ago, expressed in a high culture, partly borrowed from the highly developed predecessors - the states of Mesopotamia, the single language of own design, traditions, adoption of the Christian religion that separated these communities from the underdeveloped neighbors, gorsky tenacity in preserving own customs and peculiarity, allowed them even under shaft of invasions of other peoples to keep the communities as holistic and developing, and to date to raise the level of the collectivist consciousness to ability to restore the national states - Armenia and Georgia.
  The weakness of self-consciousness, despite a powerful state, favorable conditions for existence, leaves only memories from deciphered cuneiforms from communities, that once were vast on occupied territories, such as Assyrians, spreading at one time their dominion over the entire known then civilized world.
  The end result of the weakness of the Assyrians' self-consciousness was the disappearance not only of the Assyrian community, whose state was the most powerful in the Middle East in the 7th century BC, but also Phoenicians who were Rome's main rivals; Etruscans, from which there are almost no traces left; Khazars; Huns, etc.
  Of course, not catastrophic external conditions, which in sufficient number and with even greater force influenced Chinese, Jews, Armenians, Georgians, were the main reason for disappearance of these communities, but did not crush them. Insufficient level of self-consciousness in the form of cultural, innovative and religious-traditional braces has destroyed these holistic communities, because with the help of basically only the lower consciousness with its desire for egocentrism, survival in any way, pressure by force, the refusal from contacts with other peoples or neglect by them, is impossible to withstand the onslaught of neighboring peoples for a long time; here is required a sensitivity to the new as well as timely rejection of the obsolete, unfit in the changed conditions; more or less altruistic morality and at the same time - established traditions or a common religion and language of communication, which gives specialness to the community; the developing ideas, for example, the idea of people by chosen God, and not just one desires to encompass
  and capture.
  For example, we shall show below the reasons for the collapse of the Assyrian community, which disappeared approximately 2.6 thousand years ago, unlike the neighboring - Jewish and Armenian.
  At the beginning of II millennium BC, in the upper part of Mesopotamia, close to the trade routes, a small oligarchic state of merchants arose, Assyria, which was under the control of alternately larger states of Mesopotamia.
  The weakening of the large states of this region provided an opportunity for Assyria, having transferred gradually the leadership of the country from the trade nobility to the military, move on to a policy of conquests.
  In the middle of XIII century BC Assyrian troops plunder Babylonia, in the 12th century BC Assyria subjugated Northern Phoenicia. The danger of invasion by neighbors forced the ruling Assyrian elite to improve the organization, the technical equipment of the army and its strength.
  War chariots, siege weapons, armament from iron instead of bronze, sappers, a new battle tactics and discipline appeared at the Assyrian army
  At the same time, no one could compete with the Assyrians in cruelty against the enemies and the ruthless robbery of the conquered countries.
  In VIII century BC Assyrians defeated the Damascus kingdom, in the 7th century BC they destroyed Babylon and captured Egypt.
  Assyrian imperious elite tried to unite violently occupied territories with the diverse population, various languages, religions and traditions by one - Aramaic - language. Wars led to deterioration of the situation of ordinary Assyrian farmers - the main land allotments departed to the tsar, grandees, temples.
  In Assyria by the end of the 7th century BC from the infinite wars and revolts in the conquered lands began to be felt exhaustion.
  At the same time, new powerful neighbors appeared for Assyria - Chaldean kingdom and Mussel. They attacked the central part of Assyria from two sides, its army was defeated, resistance ceased, and the Assyrians gradually dissolved among other tribes and peoples.
  It is curious that in the Assyrian art military plots and scenes of hunting prevailed.
  The ruination of Assyrian community distinctly shows that a support on force, cruelty which are properties of the lowest consciousness, in which there is practically no development, illegibility in means, the desire to coerce violently, in particular, by means of the policy of resettlement, as well as to unite the diverse tribes and peoples in surrounding of aggressive neighbors, inevitably leads to the death of the state, and after this disappears the community, which is assimilated by neighboring communities.
  Thus, the low level of culture of the community, and hence its self- consciousness, relying only on force and developing only military technologies does not find with loss of this force nowhere more support for own development, and his members join other communities.
  Such cases of assimilation of members of once powerful communities in the history of civilization are sufficient to understand the leading role in the development of communities of not external factors, even powerful ones, but internal, developed features: culture, traditions, ethics, often religion, not allowing only animal instincts in the form of force, greed, hatred to other peoples and primacy at any cost to dominate in collectivist consciousness of community.
  The given examples, despite not similarity of content of the self-consciousness of Chinese and Jews and also essential differences in surroundings their communities, show that both communities have all features, noted in the definition given above.
  They were formed historically in certain territories, the order of communication includes one or several main languages, that were singled out during development; a way of life and customs of peoples of communities for long history of each of them have become significantly closer to each other; having made a basis for formation of specific culture, at this, the tribes making these communities not necessarily have common biological (genetic) roots.
  It must be assumed that this means the correctness of highlighting by us the main features of an integral community.
  Nevertheless, collectivist self-consciousness is responsible for the development of the community. Its action can be more or less successful, as it is visible from the examples above.
  It must be assumed that development of community with maintaining its integrity as it is well looked through from the given examples, depends on the corresponding content of collectivist self-consciousness.
  This content, differing in detail for each individual community, in order to ensure the development of any community and preserve its integrity should have the following properties: a support on a level of culture that significantly separates the basic aspirations of man from animal instincts; ability to detach and distinguish itself from neighbors by pride for own peculiarity, despite of its specifics; the adequate choice of means, in particular, faith and traditions fastening community before any threats; evasion from conservatism, or overall preference of the new over the outdated; predominance in times of crisis the public interests over the personal; the ability to critically assess own actions in the present and adequately anticipate the future by leaders of the community by making responsible decisions so that they are correlated with the achieved level of mass self-consciousness.
  Similar content of self-consciousness of community keeps a community from disintegration and defines the course of its development, the relation to an external environment, all system of life of community. During this advance the collectivist self-consciousness is enriched itself, and raises at the same time the level of self-consciousness of each member of the community.
  
  Bibliography
  
  1. Широкогоров С.М. Этнос. Исследование основных принципов изменения этнических и этнографических явлений. / Изв. Восточного факультета Государственного Дальневосточного университета. Вып. XVIII, Т. 1. Шанхай, 1923.
  2. Гумилев Л. Н. Этногенез и биосфера Земли. СПб. Кристалл. 2001. ISBN 5-306-00157-2
  3. Бромлей Ю.В. Очерки теории этноса. М.: Наука, 1983.
  4. В.В. Пименов. Этнология: предметная область, социальные функции, понятийный аппарат. /Этнология/ Под ред. Г.Е. Маркова В.В. Пименова. М. 1994.
  5. Арутюнов А.С. Этносы и нации (Приложение 2) / Народы мира. Энциклопедия. - М. ОЛМА Медиа Групп, 2007.
  
  
  
  
  
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