Abstract
The late Ernest Gellner, a leading analyst of nationality and ethnicity in recent times, applied historical and sociological analysis to nationalist phenomena, and argued that there is a necessary connection between nationalism and ‘modernity’. According to him, the modem, liberal economy requires a market larger than local ones, therefore it establishes such a national market by combining local ones. The modem economy requires a powerful, centralised state and the state, in turn, requires ‘the homogeneous cultural branding of its flock’ (Gellner 1983, p. 140), for greater efficiency and cohesion. The development of capitalism is easier and quicker in the case of homogeneous structures of organisation and the same patterns of culture. These requirements coincide in part with people’s subjective needs. The rapid social changes which industrialisation, mobility, high technology and rapid communications bring about lead to the loss of individual identity. Ordinary people lose their ties with family and their local environment, and begin to feel the need for a new identity on a higher level. The promulgation of a national identity via nationalist doctrines and movements can help them to iocate’ themselves. Thus nationalism is both psychologically and socially functional: it aids individual fulfilment and social solidarity.1 Gellner shows how industrial development influenced the creation of nations and in consequence the creation of nationalism, and vice versa: nationalism, by creating nations, stimulated economic development. According to Gellner, in the major transition from feudalism to capitalism, nationalism was the tool for the creation of nations.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Błasiak, W. (1992), ‘Społeczne źrodła mobilizacji i demonopolizacji regionalnej i lokalnej zbiorowości Górnego Śląska i Zagłębia Dąbrowskiego’, mimeograph, Katowice.
Deutsch, Karl (1953), Nationalism and Social Communication (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Gellner, Ernest (1983), Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
Kedourie, Elie (1966), Nationalism (London: Hutchinson).
Lerner, Daniel (1964), The Passing of Traditional Society (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1958).
Ossowski, S. (1984), O ojczyźnie i narodzie (About Homeland and Nation) (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe).
Report of the Institute of Investigation of Market Economy (Warsaw, September 1994).
Szczepański, M.S. (1992a), Regionalizm górnośląski w społecznej świadomości (Silesian Regionalism in Social Awareness), mimeo, Katowice.
Szczepański, M.S. (1992b), Pokusy nowoczesności – polskie dylematy rozwojowe (Temptations of Modernity: Polish Dilemmas of Development (Katowice: AMP).
Zajączkowski, W. (1993), Czy Rosja przetrwa do 2000 roku? (Will Russia Survive until the Year 2000?).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1998 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Budyta-Budzyńska, M. (1998). A New Interpretation of Ethnicity in Central and Eastern Europe. In: Taras, R. (eds) National Identities and Ethnic Minorities in Eastern Europe. International Congress of Central and East Europian Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26553-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26553-4_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-26555-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-26553-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)