
Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law
(Image by The Founding Myths: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel) Details DMCA
By Bruce Lerro, Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism
Orientation
Over the last three hundred years in the West, nationalism has supplanted religious, regional, ethnic and class loyalties to claim a secular version of the commandment "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me." How did this happen? Let's say we have an Italian-American member of the working-class who lives in San Francisco. How is it possible that this person is expected to feel more loyalty to a middle-class Irishman living in Boston compared to Italians living in Milan, Italy? How is it that this loyalty is so great that this Italian-American would risk his life in the military against the same Italian in Milan in the case of a war between the United States and Italy? Why would the same working-class man kill and/or die in a battle with Iraq soldiers who were also working class? My article attempts to explain how people were socialized in order to internalize this nationalistic propaganda. Nationalism used the paraphernalia of a particular kind of religion, monotheism, to command such loyalty. This article is a synthesis of part of my work in chapters two and three of my book, Forging Promethean Psychology.
Questions about nationalism, nations, and ethnicity
Nationalism is one of those words that people immediately feel they understand, but upon further questioning, we find a riot of overlapping and conflicting elements. There are three other words commonly associated in the public mind with nationalism and used interchangeably with it: nation, state, and ethnicity. The introductions of these terms raise the following provocative questions:
- What is the relationship between nationalism and nations? Were there nations before nationalism? Did they come about at the same time or do they have separate histories? Can a nation exist without nationalism? Can nationalism exist without a nation? Ernest Gellner (Nations and Nationalism) thinks so.
- What is the relationship between a state and a nation? Are all states nations? Are all nations states? Can states exist without nationalism?
- What is the relationship between ethnicity and a nation? Can one be part of an ethnic group and not have a nation? Can one be a part of a nation without being in an ethnic community?
There is rich scholarly work in this field and most agree that nations, nationalism, ethnicities, and states are not interchangeable. Despite scholars' differences about the questions above, they agree that nationalism as an ideology that arose at the end of the 18th century with the French Revolution. Because our purpose is to understand nationalism as a vital component in creating loyalty we are, mercifully, on safe ground to limit our discussion to nationalism.
Elements of Nationalism
Four sacred dimensions of national identity
In his wonderful book Chosen Peoples, Anthony Smith defines nationalism as an ideological movement for the attainment and maintenance of three characteristics: autonomy, unity, and identity. Nationalism has elite and popular levels. Elite nationalism is more liberal and practiced by the upper classes. Popular nationalism is more conservative and practiced by the lower classes. According to Smith, the four sacred foundations for all nations are (1) a covenant community, including elective and missionary elements; (2) a territory; (3) a history; and (4) a destiny.
The fourth sacred source of nationalism - destiny - is a belief in the regenerative power of individual sacrifice to serve the future of a nation. In sum, nationalism calls people to be true to their unique national vocation, to love their homeland, to remember their ancestors and their ancestors' glorious pasts, and to imitate the heroic dead by making sacrifices for the happy and glorious destiny of the future nation.
Core doctrine of nationalism
These four dimensions of sacred sources in turn relate to the core doctrine of the nation, which Smith describes as the following:
- The world is divided into nations, each with its own character, history and destiny.
- The source of all political power is the nation, and loyalty to the nation overrides all other loyalties.
- To be free, every individual must belong to a nation.
- Nations require maximum self-expression and autonomy.
- A world of peace and justice must be founded on free nations.
Phases of nationalism
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).