The group of inhabitants of a country or region is called a people.
The word town comes from the Latin term populus and makes reference to three different concepts: the inhabitants of a certain region, the population entity smaller than a city and the lower class of a society .
Examples where the term may appear: «The Basque people are living days of glory thanks to the success of Athletic Club de Bilbao in the European competition» , «I grew up in a town without traffic lights, although it was not difficult for me to adapt to a big city like Rosario» , "He is a singer very close to the people, who travels by public transport even though he has enough money to buy a car."
Town as a group of inhabitants
According to the first definition, the people are the group of inhabitants of a region, nation or country.
These people constitute a community because they share a similar culture .
A population entity
Regarding its second acceptance, the town is a population entity that is mainly dedicated to agricultural tasks and that lives in rural areas.
Currently, a town is considered to have an average population that represents 0.5% of the country's total. At the same time, a town is distinguished from other smaller entities since it has its own jurisdiction .
A town is a population entity smaller than a city.
The plain town
The third meaning mentioned refers to the common people , a social class also known as the plebs , the masses or the working people .
This social meaning of the people has been used since Roman times, when the Senatus Populusque Romanum (SPQR) defined the entire State (the patricians who formed the Senate and the plebeians).
All the people who make up a State
According to the historical moment, the term town was used in different ways; However, something that has always been common is that this is the name given to a group of people who move with the same life goal or who share the limits of a territory. In this way, today the people are called the group of people who make up the State , where there are no privileges of race, sexuality, religion or economic or social status. The people are made up of all individuals who, in the eyes of the law, are on equal terms.
In article 16 of the Argentine Constitution , for example, it is described that said nation does not admit prerogatives of blood or birth, nor titles of nobility or personal privileges; and adds that all the inhabitants of this territory are equal before the law, admissible in employment and that the basis of the tax and public charges is none other than equality .
It is necessary to clarify that in modern democracies the term is used to mention those people who can vote and be elected; This means that, in the case of Argentina, for example, those under 18, foreigners without a citizenship card and others who are exempt, would not be part of the population .
Continuing with what has been said before, being part of the people in a State is a fact of utmost responsibility, a right that requires in return absolute awareness to perform this function well. And since not all people who are part of the individuals with the right to vote exercise responsibly, another concept has been put into effect to define this sector, the mass.
Difference between town and mass
There is a big difference between people and masses . It is said that the true people are made up of citizens who are truly aware of their responsibility , their duties and their rights. They consider that their freedom is limited where the freedom and dignity of others begin and that inequality should not be arbitrary, but rather the consequence of human inequality, since our capabilities and wills are all different.
For its part, the mass is made up of those individuals who do not have ideals or feel any responsibility for their environment. A mass-man is called someone who is not distinguished from the rest, who is not interested in carving out a future but rather taking what is already packaged for him. He has no intellectual or spiritual aspirations and the only thing he expects from life is to be guided, to be given the "finished product." This sector of society is completely the enemy of democracy and any type of government where the people represent themselves, fundamentally because the masses deny freedom and destroy equality , they expect everyone to become mirrors of others, who feel love and hate as "should be done" and above all never express feelings or ideas contrary to the "normal" ones. The norm is what governs the masses and the main enemy of the people, where we are all different and can contribute to enhance our societies, because only in diversity is there the possibility of success and spiritual or intellectual growth.
Popular and populace
It should be noted that the term popular (from the Latin popularis ) is an adjective that allows us to name what belongs to or is related to the people. It is used to refer to what is easily accessible to all social classes or what is known by the majority of society.
In a pejorative way, the word mob is used to describe a crowd excited around a baseless idea, moved by the rules that fame follows: gaining followers, not thinking and living unconsciously. This term could be taken as a synonym for mass.