"The people" translation? I'm trying to express the idea of a government shifting to democracy. The sentence I'm trying to say is "that forced the government to listen to the people", and I can translate it all except "the people". I know the words 人  and 人类 for that sort of thing, but 人 seems too informal and like it's missing something, and 人类 I've learned means humanity, which isn't really the sense I'm trying to get at here. How would I translate "the people"?
To emphasise the social or citizen aspect of the people, you should use「民眾」or「人民」, or in a combining word, just「民」.

「人類」is not correct, that has the same meaning as English humans. You use it to emphasise the biological species aspect to contrast it with e.g.「犬類」(canines).