Shazhinbatyn, A. Ethnos and Ethnicity

Abstract: The problems of ethnopolitical relations that are usually called ‘the national issue’ are constantly discussed in both philosophical and psychological literature. As a rule, the modern global political process mobilizes groups based on ethnic grounds. The global community faces the fact that young countries with archaic or traditional ethnic groups have been included in the active historical process. Moreover, globalization has evoked opposition and separatist movements in a number of countries. There are many countries that want to become independent and autonomous today. At the same time, there are still many ethnic issues that remain unsolved. Nations demonstrate a growing interest towards their ethnic identity. The author of the present research article tries to make a distinction in interpretations of the ethnonational issues from the point of view of mordialism, constructivism and instrumentalism. The researcher uses the method of historical analysis that allows to describe how views on ethnos and ethnicity have been changing over the past decades and why the current definition of ethnicity has been created. The author also carries out a scientific analysis of works on the phenomenology of ethnicity. The scientific importance and novelty of the article is that the researcher compares modernistic and post-modernistic views on ethnicity issues. The researcher stresses out that formation of a nation or ethnos is based on social historical facts first of all. However, modern interpretation of ethnos also involves the analysis of imaginary works used in social constructivism.

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