Latest revision as of 14:50, 22 August 2013

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Inhabitants of a nation or state may be subjects ¹ citizens ¹ or nationals ¹ of that state, who enjoy certain political rights, or they may be aliens ² or foreigners ² who are citizens of another state, or citizens of no state at all and called stateless ³. The term “subject” used to have a servile connotation but has tended to lose it and is frequently taken as a synonym of citizen, though occasionally a distinction is made between a subject and a citizen. Citizens of a state generally possess the nationality ⁴ of that state. This term is nowadays used as a synonym for citizenship ⁴, but in some multi-national states ⁶ a distinction may be drawn between political nationality ⁴ and ethnic nationality ⁵.

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Aliens may acquire the nationality of their country of residence by naturalization ¹ and become naturalized citizens ² of naturalized persons ². In some countries certificates of naturalization ³ may be revoked ⁴ and naturalized persons will then suffer loss of nationality ⁵. Persons may occasionally have more than one nationality, and will then be said to possess dual nationality ⁶. A distinction is sometimes drawn between resident aliens ⁷, who habitually live in a country other than their own, and alien visitors ⁸ or visiting aliens ⁸, who are there only for relatively short periods.

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Individuals born in the territory in which they live are called natives ¹ of that territory. If their ancestors were among the original inhabitants of that territory, they are called autochthonous ², indigenous ² or aboriginal ² inhabitants; the last term is often reserved for primitive peoples. Statistics frequently distinguish between native- ³ and foreign-born ⁴ individuals.

• 2. Aboriginal, adj. - aborigines, n., pl.

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The term race ¹ is generally taken to mean a group of persons with certain common physical characteristics which are hereditarily transmitted. In some census practice, the term is sometimes used more loosely, sometimes for a group of people bound together by a common culture or national origin, or even for people inhabiting a given territory. Another term which is sometimes used is ethnic group ² and here again there is no uniformity in meaning. Ethnic group generally refers to a group of people with common culture, language, or religious traditions. An ethnic group may be a racial group. A people ³ (cf. 305-2) is generally a collection of persons who are linked by a common past or a common culture. Persons living is a given territory who exhibit notable difference from the majority of the population are called minorities ⁴, e.g., ethnic minorities ⁴, national minorities ⁴, linguistic minorities ⁴, or religious minorities ⁴.

• 1. Race, n. - racial, adj.
• 1. Racism, n.: theory that certain races are inherently superior to others; racist, adj.
• 2. Tribe, and tribal group, still used in certain contexts, tend to be replaced by "ethnic group".

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Individuals are sometimes distinguished by their color ¹, which is used loosely to refer to the apparent pigmentation of the skin. In some countries a distinction is drawn between white persons ² and colored persons ³ sometimes called non-whites ³. Mating between persons of different colors is sometimes referred to as miscegenation ⁴. A person who is the issue of such a union is said to be of mixed blood ⁵ or mixed parentage ⁵.

• 4. Crossing is sometimes used in that sense. It also refers to the change in racial self-identification of an individual between one date and another.
• 5. The issue of a white and a negro is called mulatto. In Spanish America the issue of a person of European extraction and an American Indian is called a mestizo. The issue of a person of European extraction and an Asian is sometimes referred to as an eurasian.

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