Origins Of The Nation And Nationalism

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Ernest Gellner focusses on the socio-economic conditions in which people lived and states that nationalism is a result of these conditions. Gellner focusses on these conditions by describing the relation between culture and organisation, the two ever present basic elements of social life. He sees culture as a shared set of ideas, clothing, language, ways of behaviour etc. It is persistent, diverse and can be transmitted from generation to generation. Organisation is explained as a way to homogenize differentiated individuals into a group. The constellation between culture and organisations may vary but are key in the development towards nationalism in some situations, since states and nationalisms are not universal and perennial, but culture and organisation are.

In order to get towards nationalisms, common cultural traits are stimulated in becoming universal high culture, Gellner’s central concept. He defines three periods in the history of man to explain the reason of existence of high culture, namely the foraging age, the agrarian age, and the industrial age. In the foraging epoch, culture and organisation was present but not to such an extent that it had a strong effect (Gellner, 1997:15). When the agrarian age dawned, class and status became important since the elite used culture to emphasize on hierarchy and the differences between the classes in order to create social order (Gellner, 1997:20).

According to Gellner, the industrial age, that came with the rise of mass production and lots of technical and industrial enhancements, called for homogenisation of language and culture (1997:29). Since the industrial society is characterized by the dependence on continuous growth of both the production and society itself, tools to reach this goal were needed. The most important tool was mass education in which the homogenization can actually be fulfilled. This saw the rise of universal high culture, a culture which is characterized by a high literacy, a high education level in maths, technology and general training, increased mobility of people, good communication, the ability of people to re-educate, a low level of work mobilization of experts, and a high level of work mobilization amongst ordinary workers. These factors all depend heavily on education, which was dominated by the state, whom as Gellner sees, guarantees efficient processes of high culture. These improvements led to more jobs which led to better living conditions for the common man. Due to high culture elite and the masses became more equal socially, which made it possible to create and uphold political bonds unlike in the agrarian age, in which a stratified minority ruling class was separated from the majority of farmers. The homogeneity of culture that was reached during the industrial age formed the political bond, the mastery of a given high culture is the ‘precondition of political, economic and social citizenship’ (Gellner, 1997:29), and it is this what Gellner describes as the origin of nationalism. This nationalism paves the way for nations, which are made to fit the needs of modern societies. Important to note is that the high culture is separate from religion since the society predominantly worships itself and the culture it brings about.

Benedict Anderson states that the chance to imagine a nation ascended with "three fundamental cultural conceptions, all of great antiquity, lost their anxiomatic grip on men’s minds" (Anderson, 1991:36). To start, there was the use of sacred language which was only accessible to the elite which eventually brought about the major religions. Secondly there was the conviction that society was once controlled by the religious community and dynastic realms in which monarchs were believed to be divine. Loyalty towards those leaders makes society hierarchic .Finally the concept of time in which cosmology and history are one and the same since men come from the earth, and the earth comes before men but the origins are still identical (Anderson, 1991:36). When combining these concepts it can give meaning to, and redemption from life and everything that comes with it. However societies need a way to keep a sense of immortality. Anderson states that print-capitalism, printed language and the popularity of certain languages laid the foundation of national awareness. The interaction between these three aspects was fruitful. The technology of printed-language in several popular languages made culture accessible to everyone, creating a unified field of cultural exchange, the idea that nations were an old concept, and the rise in popularity of certain languages. It helped people understanding one another. This led to the rise of ruling classes which bonded outside of language, but was based on affiliation, trade and loyalty. People became aware that more people communicated the same way that they did, which permitted people to see themselves as part of a nationally imagined community (Anderson, 1991:38).

Anderson developed the concept of ‘the nation’ as an imagined political community, being both imagined as fundamentally limited and sovereign (Anderson, 1991: 6). It is limited in the sense that the members will never know all the other members or even meet all the other members, but exist in their thoughts as being part of their community. It is sovereign since the concept ‘nation’ came about in the Enlightenment in which the legitimacy of religion took a heavy toll. A sovereign state symbolizes liberation from traditional and spiritual frameworks. It is a community since the nation is seen as a horizontal and deep affiliation. This sense of solidarity makes it possible for members of the community not to kill but willingly die for their nation (Anderson, 1991:7).

However with the decline of unconditional belief in religious scripture, it became a necessity to discover a new way to keep the community together. According to Anderson this gave rise to nationalism, which needs to be understood not in a political ideology framework but within the framework of the culture that lead the way. Anderson sees nationality and nationalism as cultural artefacts which became a model in the eighteenth century which could be easily moulded and adjusted towards social, political and ideological arrangements in the near future.

Smith (1996) sees the nation as ‘a named human population with shared myths and memories occupying a historic territory or homeland, and pressing common public culture, a single unified economy and common legal rights and duties’ (Smith, 1996:581). He focusses more on the historic background on his view of the nation, his approach is the focus on ethno-symbolism. In this framework, both traditional and modern aspects are shared in such a way that he agrees that over time a nation can be submitted through change in which historical aspects in a community can be imagined, and agreeing that variety and the strength of peoples values can be accredited to historical resources. It highlights the significance of symbols, traditions, values and myths when creating and perpetuation of modern nations. However Smith does state that nations have historic roots since nations are based on ethnic histories, myths and territorial associations (Smith, 1996:557). In order to explain the diversity and tenacity of nationalism Smith argues that there are three kinds of resources that trigger all nationalisms. The first resource is the ‘ethno-history’ and the golden age, which is the sum of collective memories from one or more golden ages in the history of a nation. The second resource is ‘ethnic election’, which is the confidence of certain people that they are ‘chosen’ by a higher power or ruling party, it however requires a member to obey a set of rules. The third resource is ‘ancestral homeland’, which means the territory held by ancestors of ethnies (home).

However these resources cannot predict when these nationalisms will occur. Therefore he looks at the process of nation building, in which he differentiate it into four phases (1996:593). The first phase is the emergence of an elite whom can transform ethno-historical dogmas and conducts into modern nationalisms. The second phase is the necessity to use symbols, language, education, and media, to create a long lasting nationalist movement in order to share ideas with all members. The third phase is where the state chooses if the ethnic community can or cannot be integrated. The fourth phase is the attitude of the international community towards the ethnic community and location of the aspiring nation.