1 / 16

Nationalism Lecture 4: Theories II

Nationalism Lecture 4: Theories II. Prof. Lars-Erik Cederman Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) Seilergraben 49, Room G.2 lcederman@ethz.ch http://www.icr.ethz.ch/teaching/nationalism

nerina
Download Presentation

Nationalism Lecture 4: Theories II

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. NationalismLecture 4: Theories II Prof. Lars-Erik Cederman Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) Seilergraben 49, Room G.2 lcederman@ethz.ch http://www.icr.ethz.ch/teaching/nationalism Assistant: Kimberly Sims, CIS, Room E 3, k-sims@northwestern.edu

  2. Summary: Gellner • Gellner offers a constructivist critique of essentialist theory that • defines nationalism as principle stipulating political and cultural boundaries should coincide • is based on philosophy of history with nationalism as integrated part of modern world • stresses high culture supported by education • includes a theory of social conflict

  3. Theories of nationalism:Main Debates Nationalist primordialism Anti-nationalist ideology Constructivism Essentialism Gellner

  4. Critical reactions to Gellner • Functionalism • Materialism • Politics? • Culture? • Philosophy of history • Nations before industrial society? • Prediction may be possible

  5. Gellner’s functionalism • “So the economy needs both the type of central culture and the central state; the culture needs the state; and the state probably needs the homogenous cultural branding of its flock ... In brief, the mutual relationship of a modern culture and state is something quite new, and springs, inevitably, from the requirements of modern society.” (Nations and Nationalism, p. 140)

  6. Functionalist explanation beneficial effect ? Nationalism Industrial Society ?

  7. Amending Gellner’s theory beneficial effect Pre-modern factors Nationalism Modern Society Causal mechanisms

  8. Benedict Anderson: Imagined Communities beneficial effect Vernacula- rization 1. Print-capitalism 2. Reformation 3. Admin. reforms Nation-state as “imagined community” Nationalism

  9. Michael Mann: Political institutionalism Religious phase beneficial effect Modern, democratic society Discursive literacy Nationalism State policies, democratic movements Commercial/ statist phase

  10. Other constructivists • Eric Hobsbawm: Marxist interpretation of nationalism as “false consciousness” and “invention of ideology”: • Nationalism was emancipatory but then derailed • Nationalism will be surpassed: post-nationalism • Karl Deutsch: social communication and modernization • Rogers Brubaker: Social closure of citizenship and immigration policies

  11. Essentialist critique • Materialism: culture! • Historical timing: • nations before nationalism! • history more deterministic! Ethnic communities Nations Nationalism

  12. A. D. Smith’s critique of Gellner • “Cultural functionalism” • Nations have ancient roots Ethnic Communities Nationalism Nations Modern Society need Ethno- genesis Nation- formation

  13. Ethnogenesis (Nation Identity, Ch. 2) • State-making • Military mobilization • Organized religion Ethnic evolution: • Religious reform • Cultural borrowing • Popular participation • Myths of ethnic election

  14. Nation-Formation(National Identity, ch. 3) Def. nation = 1. homeland 2. myths 3. mass culture 4. legal rights 5. economy Lateral ethnie Vertical ethnie

  15. Other essentialists • John Armstrong, Nations Before Nationalism • Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity • Walker Connors, Ethno-Nationalism

  16. Gellner’s response to his critics • Functionalism • Beyond industrialization: bureaucratic centralization • “Nations have navels”

More Related