A people is a group of individuals who belong to and function within a particular society. In common usage, the term people may be synonymous with human, or otherwise may carry an exclusive meaning. In general, the word people is a collective noun used to define a specific group of humans. However, when used to refer to a group of humans possessing a common ethnic, cultural or national unitary characteristic or identity, "people" is a singular noun, and as such takes an "s" in the plural; (example: "the English-speaking peoples of the world").
The concept of personhood (who is a person within a society) is the fundamental component of any selective concept of people. A distinction is maintained in philosophy and law between the notions "human being", or "man", and "person". The former refers to the species, while the latter refers to a rational agent (see, for example, John Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding II 27 and Immanuel Kant's Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals).
A Private Dance? Four Million Web Fans Say No Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:47:07 -0000 “Dancing,” which more than four million people have viewed on YouTube, is the online equivalent of a platinum hit, seeping from one computer to the next like a virus.
Television: Summer’s Reality: Odd Skills and Absurd Obstacles Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:56:01 -0000 In the current spate of reality series there is no one for whom we might feel sorry, no one to hate, but a whole lot about which we might feel very bad.
Ted Koppel Tours a China Brimming With Dreams and Consumerism Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:10:48 -0000 Ted Koppel takes viewers beyond the oft-seen China in an ambitious four-part series that begins Wednesday night on the Discovery Channel.
Big Brother 10 to feature big grandpa Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:22:00 -0700 Septuagenarian ex-Marine to lounge on the couch, backstab with the usual 20- and 30-somethings. Heroes webisodes teased Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:22:00 -0700 Exclusive online content for NBC's hit busts out of the phone booth next Monday, trailer available now; new hero comes in screamin'. Report: Pretty Handsome's future is ugly Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:31:00 -0700 Drama about a transsexual from Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy passed over by FX, may be dropped.