Читать книгу Our Social World - Kathleen Odell Korgen - Страница 134

The national society (introduced in Chapter 1) is a population of people, usually living within a specified geographic area, who are connected by common ideas, cooperate for the attainment of common goals, and are subject to a particular political authority. Within the nation, there may be smaller groups, such as ethnic, regional, or tribal subcultures, made up of people who identify closely with others in the group Most nations have a national culture of common values and beliefs that tie citizens of a nation together. The national culture affects the everyday lives of most citizens. Within some countries of Africa and the Middle East, on the other hand, local subcultures including ethnic or religious loyalties are much stronger than any sense of national culture, in part because the nation-state boundaries were originally imposed by foreign colonial powers. Subcultural differences divide many nations. Consider the loyalties of Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds in Iraq to their subcultures, where the national culture struggles for influence over its citizens through laws and military force.

In colonial America, people thought of themselves as Virginians or Rhode Islanders rather than as U.S. citizens. Even during the “War Between the States” of the 1860s, the battalions were organized by states and often carried their state banners into battle. The fact that some Southern states still call it the War Between the States rather than the Civil War communicates the struggle over whether to recognize the nation or states as the primary social unit of loyalty and identity. People in the United States today are increasingly likely to think of themselves as U.S. citizens (rather than as Iowans or Floridians), yet the national culture determines only a few of the specific guidelines for everyday life. The sense of nation has grown stronger in most industrialized societies over the past century, and the primary identity is likely to be “United States” or “Canadian” citizen.