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Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
01 Jan 1983-
TL;DR: In this paper, Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality and explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time.
Abstract: What makes people love and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name? While many studies have been written on nationalist political movements, the sense of nationality - the personal and cultural feeling of belonging to the nation - has not received proportionate attention. In this widely acclaimed work, Benedict Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality. Anderson explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time. He shows how an originary nationalism born in the Americas was modularly adopted by popular movements in Europe, by the imperialist powers, and by the anti-imperialist resistances in Asia and Africa. This revised edition includes two new chapters, one of which discusses the complex role of the colonialist state's mindset in the development of Third World nationalism, while the other analyses the processes by which all over the world, nations came to imagine themselves as old.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a detailed case of how one of the Big Six invested in the former Soviet Union, as it moved towards capitalism, and apply and develop theories of identity and nationalism in explaining the detailed mechanisms of imperialism.
Abstract: As major multinationals involved in global expansion, the Big Six are investing in new markets throughout those parts of the world where they believe they can make money. This paper presents a detailed case of how one of the Big Six invested in the former Soviet Union, as it moved towards capitalism. The case presents issues of national pride, national stereotyping, constructing managerial identities and political decision processes in a story of an emergent global strategy. Thus, the paper applies and develops theories of identity and nationalism in explaining the detailed mechanisms of imperialism. The continuing internal debate about the objectives and motives of these firms, whether their focus is on multinational clients or on developing local firms, institutions and markets, has important implications for national public policies in relation to these firms. These issues are crucial in the emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, where the spread of global capitalism is still open for debate.
148 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relation between levels of education and nationalist sentiment and xenophobia was examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISP) and empirically compared ten carefully chosen countries in order to be able to assess the relationship between education and the attitudes expressed.
Abstract: This paper sets out to scrutinise the relation between levels of education on the one hand, and nationalist sentiment and xenophobia on the other. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme it empirically compares ten carefully chosen countries in order to be able to assess the relation between education and the attitudes expressed. The article concludes that the effect of levels of education is not country-specific. In other words, levels of nationalist sentiment as well as of xenophobia decrease with increasing levels of education in all the countries examined, despite substantial differences between the educational systems in the countries.
148 citations
TL;DR: The authors suggests that self-categories provide the basis for political action, and that those who wish to organize political activity do so through the ways in which they construct selfcategories and that political domination may be achieved through reifying social categories and therefore denying alternative ways of social being.
Abstract: This paper suggests that self-categories provide the basis for political action, that those who wish to organize political activity do so through the ways in which they construct self-categories, and that political domination may be achieved through reifying social categories and therefore denying alternative ways of social being. Hence, the way in which social psychology approaches the matter of self-categorization provides a touchstone for its politics. To the extent that we too take categories for granted, we are in danger of supporting conservative and undemocratic politics. The only way to eschew tendencies toward reification within social psychology is to add a historical dimension to our own analysis of self-categorical processes.
147 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the ESC's European Governance of Public Safety Research Network published a special issue on community safety in Europe, written by the ESC Special Issue on Community Safety in Europe.
Abstract: Draws on commissioned research in the Thames Valley. In special issue on community safety in Europe, written by the ESC's European Governance of Public Safety Research Network. Widely cited and reprinted in German in S. Krassman (ed), (2007) Michel Foucault's `History of Governmentality` as a Paradigm in the Social Sciences.
147 citations