What is a Society, Nation, and State?
August 15, 2015 1 minutes • 164 words
Society
‘Society’ comes from the Latin socius which means companion which is an abstract term.
Nation
‘Nation’ comes from the Latin natus which refers to birth. Thus, a nation can have two meaning:
- The place where a person was born – this leads to nationality
- The ethnicity of the person at birth – this leads to ‘Cherokee nation’ if one’s parents are both Cherokee
State
A state is a formalized society that is non-arbitrary.
Its opposites are kingdoms, tribes, and nations, which are arbitrary.
Unlike a nation that has physical attributes such as a place of birth and race of parents, a state is an abstract idea.
A state has derivative ideas:
- A nation-state is a collection of tribes that has evolved to govern itself.
- A city-state is a city that has defined its society.
A state can merge with other states and become a United States or European Union, or split up like former Soviet states. The next evolution is the global state.