Theories of Ethnicity and Nationalism

Lecture Series
Outline prepared and written by:
Dr. Jason J. Campbell:
http://jasonjcampbell.org/home.php
Youtube Playlist Link:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLba_fOJviSOLryVx8ZNWmbhiOEEWlLYn5
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American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination
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1.0 Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations

2 Working Definitions for Race and Ethnicity:
1. Race: connotes biological difference among people BUT
doesnt make much sense as a biological concept, (p.2)
a. Insignificant Biological Consequences
b. Significant Sociological Consequences [Explain]
2. Ethnicity:
a. In its most basic sense, ethnicity refers to the social
reproduction of basic classificatory differences between
categories of people and to aspects of gain and loss in social
interaction. Ethnicity is fundamentally dual, encompassing
aspects of both meaning and politics.
1

b. A socially constructed conception of a subpopulation of
individuals who are perceived to reveal shared historical
experiences as well as unique (1) organizational, (2)
behavioral, and (3) cultural characteristics, (p.3).
c. American Ethnicities:
i. Blacks, White, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans
etc. as ethnic-groups.




1
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity versus Nationalism Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 28,
No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 263-278.

1
Duality of Ethnic Conflict:
Ethnicity is a force that mobilizes peoples emotions p. 1.
Forces:
(1) Pride: potentially good [often framed, however, as
superiority].
(2) Fear: interpretation of another ethnic population as a
potential threat, (p.1) [KEY]
3 Operative FORCES of Ethnicity (as concept):
1. The demarcation of a population of individuals, p.3



country of origin, religion, family practiceslanguage, beliefs
[and] valuesare used to [demarcate] a population of individuals.
2. Labeling:
a. Is essential in sustaining the concept of ethnicity.
b. REMEMBER: Ethnicity IS A socially constructed
conception (p.3).
ii. Q: How is the concept of ethnicity sustained?
iii. A: Behavioral and Cultural Differences are
normativized, i.e., turned into norms AND
symbolized.
iv. Then the norm and its deviations receive labels.
[Think of racial hierarchies]
v. PARADOX: American society is one of the
ethnically diverse in the world (p.3).
vi. SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Call attention to the
differences within American society and THUS
paradoxically reinforce labels of difference via
awareness.
2
3. Convergence of Biology and Social-Constructionism:
1. [Biological]: Features of distinction are applied
[Sociological]: (1) organizational, (2) behavioral,
and (3) cultural characteristics.
2. State Demography:
3. Homogeneous Social Demography
E.G: Icelandic, South Korean, Japanese
Societies
4. Heterogeneous Social Demography
E.G: American, French, Canadian
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1.1: Ethnicity and Ethnic Grouping(s)
THESIS: [The underlying assumption that ethnic groups exist]
Ethnic Groups AKA Ethnic (Sub) Population(s): [DEF]: a number of
interacting individuals [already] distinguished by their ethnicitya
subpopulation of individual who are labeled and categorized by the
general population, (p.5).
2
[NOTE]: the ascription of the label is itself
a consequence of the general population [Explain].
---------------
[Ref: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights Ethnicity without
Groups. Author: Rogers Brubaker]
ANTITHESIS: [The underlying counter argument challenges the
assumption regarding the existence of groups]
[KEY]: The concept group has remained curiously unscrutinized in
recent years, (p.50).
[Def]: Groupism: the tendency to take discrete, sharply differentiated
internally homogeneous and externally bounded groups as basic
constituent of social life, (p. 50)
Groupism tends to be essentializing (generalizing and
homogenizing), [Explain]
Reinforced by tautological argumentation: We need to
breakwith the seemingly obvious and uncontroversial point that

2
American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination

3
ethnic conflict [A] involves conflict between ethnic groups, [A]
(p.52). Basically A=A. True BUT no additional meaning is added

Two Attributions of Groupism: [Huge Room for Development]
Graduate student should ask themselves the following question: Q:
What are the necessary and sufficient conditions needed to articulate
group agency and group interests?
1. Agency: AKA Entities The ontological attempt to
attribute uniform general characteristics to the group, on
the one hand, and in so doing the application of agency.
[Detailed Explanation].

By invoking group, they seek to evoke them, summon them, call them
into being[they] produce what they apparently describe or designate,
[Explain], (p. 53).
2. Interests: are obviously generalized thought the group,
which necessitates that attempts to homogenize interests,
increases the likelihood for intra-group alienation,
resentment and violence.

4 Tenets of Groupness:
To move beyond groupism we emphasize the sociopolitical function of
the group and the sense of being, (1) not the being of the group, (2) but
the sense of being in the group.
1. Groupness as event:
a. [KEY]: the feeling of collective solidarity, (p.54).
b. The conceptualization of groupness is that of an event, an
occurrence, a happening, that comes into being and
potentially disintegrates.
c. This conceptualization in accordance with mobilization
[Explain]
2. Groups as categories:
a. Groupness is a category of identification and a means of
accessing the epistemology of its organization, i.e., a coming
4
to understand how group functions and identifies itself as
group.
i. Ethnography, cohabitation, shared linguistic fluency,
become essential in our attempt to understand group
cohesion etc. [Explain].
ii. The category is entrenched in myths, folklore,
narratives AS a meaning-giving-activity.
3. Group-making as project:
a. Deliberate violence as the means of group-making, i.e., the
existence of groupness may itself be a product of violence
[Brief Explanation].
4. Groups as organizations:
a. [KEY]: social mobilization is more difficult than
implementing institutional control.
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American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination
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1.2: 7 Types of Discrimination

1. Ethnic Cleansing: Systematic attempts to eliminate an ethnic or
religious group from a society, (p.314) E.g., Serbs vs. Albanians.
2. Genocide: The killing of members of an ethnic subpopulation or,
potentially, the extermination of an entire ethnic group. The most
intense form of discrimination, (p.315).
3. Expulsion: The act of exiling members of an ethic subpopulation
from a countrycan take the form of (1) direct coercion or it can
be (2) indirect, (p.315).
a. Usually forced (p.6) Direct Coercion.
b. Creation of social hostilities as a means of incentivizing
migration. Indirect Coercion.
4. Segregation: The process of spatially isolating members of an
ethnic subpopulation in areas where they cannot have the same
access to valued resources as do people who are not isolated,
(p.322). [Link to Metropolitan Lecture Series].
5
5. Exclusion: A pattern of discrimination that denies members of an
ethnic group certain positions, independent of the effects of
segregation, (p.7).
a. Rights Denial, Voting Denial, Gerrymandering
b. [KEY]: Exclusion from the political arena denies an ethnic
group the power to move out of its subordinate position,
(p.9)
6. Selective Inclusion: The process of allowing members of ethnic
subpopulations into certain positions while at the same time
excluding them from other positions, (p. 9).
a. exclusion and selective inclusion tend to operate
simultaneously, (p.9).
b. E.g., Mexican Farm labor in the United States as selectively
included, while excluded from other opportunities.
7. Abusive Practices: Patters of action against the victims of
discrimination by member of other ethnic groups and particularly
by those charged with the enforcement of law, (p.9).
a. Environmental Racism: The dumping of toxic wastes in
neighborhoods inhabited by poor and relatively powerless
ethnic groups. Waste-disposal sites are generally located in
poor and minority neighborhoods, (p.314)
b. Racial Profiling: Law enforcement agencies use of ethnic
markers to assess the likelihood of crime, (p. 321).

Isolated Acts of Discrimination:
1. The act of discrimination is not sanctioned by cultural
values, beliefs and norms, (p.10).
2. They are not performed as a matter of policy within an
organized structure, (p.10).
3. They are not frequent and pervasive in the informal
contact among people within the organization, (p.10)




6
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American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination

1.3: The Institutionalization of Discrimination
1. exists when individual acts are sanctioned by cultural values,
beliefs, laws, and norm, (p.10).
2. they are part of the way a social structure normally operates,
(p.10).
3. they are pervasive and persistent feature of the contact among
people, (p.10).
Ethnical Stereotyping in America:
Groupings: Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native Americans.
[KEY]: Ethnic identification informs (1) Behavioral expectations, (2)
variations in etiquette, (3) Public Rituals
The following will represent gross generalizations. You should try
completing each ethnical stereotype.
1. Behavioral Expectations:
a. Black: Angry/Violent
b. White: Entitled/Disrespectful
c. Hispanic: Loud/Use Language as means of Excluding
d. Asian: Apologetic/Shy/Academic Excellence (Positive)
e. Native Americans: Reclusive
2. Variations in Etiquette:
a. Black: Prayer/Children are not considered equals
b. White: Puritanical/Not to Interrupt
c. Hispanic: Prayer/???
d. Asian: Tiger Parents/???
e. Native Americans: ???
3. Public Rituals:
a. Black: Posting [Explain]
b. White: Public Intoxication/Flashing
c. Hispanic: Day Labor
d. Asian: ???
e. Native Americans: ???

7
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Anthropology, Culture and Society: Ethnicity and Nationalism

Conceptual and Actual Differences in Stereotyping:
Stereotypes need not be true, and they do not necessarily give good
descriptions of what people actually do[In a research study a Chinese
couple was] refused service only once (what was done). [The
researcher] sent out a questionnaire to the owners of the establishment,
asking whether they would accept member of the Chinese race as
guests. The vast majority affirmed that they would not (what was said).

7 General Functions of Stereotypes: [Not inherently negative, serve
important sociological function].
1. helps the individual create order, (p.25)
2. Make it possible to divide the social world into kinds of people,
(p.25).
3. provide criteria for classification, (p.25).
4. give the individual the impression of understand(ing), (p.25)
5. justify privileges, (p.25)
6. differentiate accessto resource(s), (p.25).
7. when directed toward a ruling group may alleviate feelings of
powerlessness and resignationthe symbolic revenge, (p.25)
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1.4: Theories of Ethnic Relations: PART ONE
American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination

Robert Parks 4 Stages of Assimilation:
1. Contact with diverse ethnic groups as the condition for
Competition.
a. Need for political representation, jobs, resources etc, fuels
interethnic competition, which can either be positive
[constructive] OR negative and [destructive].
2. Accommodation: Migrated interethnic populations change and
adapt to their new environment, (p.30).
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3. Stabilization: Cohabitation between migrated ethnic populations,
under the auspice of nationalism [ideal].
4. Assimilation: migrant ethnic [communities] merge with other
ethnic groups, (p.31).
a. Assimilation, then, where it is not forced can strengthen a
shared national identity. The main difficult to this end,
however, is time, as it is a long process.
b. [IDEA]: It would be a good research project for graduate
students to conceptualize a mechanism that may expedite this
process, i.e., the process of assimilation/inclusion without
imposition and force.

Seven Types of Assimilation:
1. Cultural Assimilation:
a. occurs when the values, beliefs, dogmas, ideologies,
language, and other systems of symbols of the dominant
culture are adopted, p.31.
2. Structural Assimilation:
a. occurs when migrant ethnic groups become members of the
primary group within dominant ethnic
subpopulations[however it] is more difficult to achieve
than cultural assimilation because it involves penetration into
the close interactions and associations of dominant ethnic
groups, p.31.
3. Martial Assimilation:
a. the emergence of high rates of intermarriage between the
migrant and dominant ethnic group, p.31.
4. Identification Assimilation:
a. no longer see themselves as distinctive p.31, i.e., their
exoticism is lost/relinquished.
5. Attitude-Receptional Assimilation:
a. the lack of prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes on the part
of both dominant and migrant ethnic groups, p.31.
6. Behavioral-Receptional Assimilation:
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a. the absence of intentional discrimination by dominant ethnic
groups against subordinate ethnic groups, p.31
7. Civic Assimilation:
a. [KEY]: which is why its moral: the reduction of conflict
between [inter]ethnics groups over basic values and access to
the political arena, p.31.

Basic Structure of Pluralistic Ethnical Theories:
1. When identity is nurtured, a pluralistic and permanent mosaic of
ethnic subpopulations becomes evident p.32 [as opposed to a
melting-pot, which could challenge existing ethnical identities].
a. This is easy to agree with theoretically, within American
ethnical subpopulation what would this mean for white-
identity. Are people receptive to nurturing white-identity?
If not, why not?
b. There is a logical inconsistency to both agree with this
sentiment while also denying its importance for the dominant
ethnical group(s).
2. Interethnic segmentary conflict resolution/mitigation/identification
becomes a national priority were ethnical identity is
incommensurable with competing ethnic identities.
3. Necessary for unified national identity, which ideally subsumes
ethnical rivalries.
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1.5: Theories of Ethnic Relations: PART TWO
American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination

Bioethnical Theories:
4 Criteria for Pierre van den Berghes Sociobiological Fitness:
1. Kin Selection and Inclusive Fitness are the conditions for social
structures, i.e., social organization is indirectly influenced by our
biological/genetic need to propagate our genes etc. [the concept of
the selfish gene, the body as host to the gene]
2. social structures are merely survival machines that exist to
maintain the fitness of genes, p.33. [Explain]
10
a. The prioritization and emphasis on ethnical relationships may
itself be explained by the biological need to protect and
propagate our genes, which occurs socially.
3. Reciprocal Altruism:
a. [Explain and contextualize as generalization masquerading
as a universal truth]
i. [Assumptions]: (1) Human Nature, (2) Absolute truth,
(3) Epistemic guarantees about future conditions, (4)
Denies or delegitimizes the possibility of intentional
good/beneficial consequences as a product of egoistic
motivations. [Share Personal Motivations].
4. Ethny: an extension ofthe breeding populationcreated by
endogamy (in which mate selection is confined to specific
groups)
a. [Assumptions]: This concept grossly generalizes
heterosexual normativity as the main/sole condition for our
social organization.
i. [LOGIC]: IF genes are the sources of our social
relations and thus seek to propagate themselves via
sexual reproduction, our social relations must seek to
propagate sexual reproduction. Where such relations
obviously DONT, the argument collapse or had to
identify perversion within the LGBTI community.
b. This biological fact is then socially reconstructed. [Basic
marketing 101, the new turbocharged car, lots of $$$ =
greater potential for mate selection]. So buy the car.
c. We create social structures/organizations to satisfy our tacit
desires for genetic dominance. Ethnical relations may
preserve these sentiments.
i. Problematized by notions of purity and impurity.





11
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1.6: Theories of Ethnic Relations: PART THREE
American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination

6 Power and Stratification Ethnical Theories:
1. Stratification Theories:
a. emphasizes how the process of discrimination produces
overrepresentation of members of ethnic subpopulations in
various social classes, p.35.
b. Emphasis placed on the mobilization of power in order to
control where ethnic groups are placed in the class
system, p.35. [Explain].
2. Caste Theories:
a. Four General Conditions:
i. Confinement to lower socioeconomic positions p.35
ii. Denial of access to power
iii. Denial of intermarriage [i.e., marital assimilation]
iv. Politically Enforced Segregation
3. Colonialism Theories:
a. External Colonialism: The process by which one nation
controls the political and economic activities of another,
less developed and less powerful society, p.36.
4 Components of the External Colonization Complex:
i. Forced entry into a territory and its population p.36
ii. Alteration or destruction of the indigenous culture
[Fourth World culture] and patterns of social
organization p.36.
iii. Domination of the indigenous population by
representative of the invading society, p.36.
iv. Justification of such activities with highly
prejudicial, racist beliefs and stereotypes, p.36.
b. Internal Colonialism:
i. In order to create internal colonies, government must
actively participate. It must provide the coercive
12
force needed to control those who are colonized, while
legitimating patterns of domination with laws, p.36.
4 Components of the Internal Colonization Complex:
i. Descendents are bequeathed power and control via
prefabricate unjust social relations/organizations.
ii. Cheap labor for increased profits, serfdom, slavery
etc.
iii. Territorial domination and control:
1. An instance where national identity is inherently
antithetical to previous ethnical land
ownership/occupation.
2. Logic: Nation needs the land. Ethnical group
owns/occupies land, to the exclusion of other
ethnical groups. Nation ceases control of land
with force and either (1) reallocates land for
citizens, which is broader than any ethnical
group OR (2) it reserves land for only the
dominant ethnical group. BOTH are
problematic, the latter more so than the former.
4. Split-Labor Market Theories:
a. Based in ethnical economic competition
b. Operationalizes power through ethnical antagonisms
c. Edna Bonacich: Role of Strike-breakers by Northern
Industrialists to stop strikes, low wage labor.
i. Low Wage Labor historically incentivize violence
against those willing to work for lower wages.
1. Increases horizontal violence within ethnical
communities for those few low-wage jobs.
a. Subordinated vs. Privileged Minority Groups.
ii. [Explain]: 21
st
Century reincarnation. Imported vs.
Exported Labor.
d. Competition involves more than two antagonistic ethnic
groups; it also involves third parties who wield power and
who which to maximize profits by stimulating competition
between ethnic groups in the labor market, p.37.
13
5. Split-Class Theories:
a. Class theories emphasize economic exploitation of the lower
classes by those in the higher classes, (p.37).
b. Basic Marxist account
6. Middleman Minority Theories:
a. Go-betweens accommodate the economic accessibility to
ethnical subpopulation and those who own the MOP.
[Assumption]: subordinated ethnical populations dont spend
money, which is false.
b. EG: tensions have emerged between African American
residents and Korean business owners in ghetto areas, As
demonstrated by the attacks on these businesses during the
[LA riots], p.39. [Korean business owners as the Go-
betweeners affording economic accessibility to the ghetto.
i. Riots may have been sparked by the beating of
Rodney King but it represented deep resentment.
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1.7: Ethnical Mobilization
Ralf Ronnquist, Identity and Intra-State Ethnonational Mobilization
Ethnicity and Intra-State Conflict

Understanding Ethnoterritorial Identification:

Territoriality, attachment to a given geographical area, is recognized
as a central factor in human activity and human relations, since
territories, for groups as well as individuals, are a resource to secure
basic needs as survival and reproduction and constitute an important
power base, (p. 146). The Power Base is typically ethnoreligious.
1. Mobilization efforts are often complicated by ethnical claims
to territory. [Explain]. Typically not legally sanctioned claims,
which represents a particular difficulty for indigenous, Fourth
World inhibits.
2. A region reflect(s) and reproduce(s) a collective history of the
area[and is] of decisive importance for the emergence of a
common regional identity, (p.146).
14
a. The emergence of a new identity will require
mobilization, probably under ethnoreligious,
ethnoeconomical lines.
3. Governments of state have made considerable efforts to
develop a common identity among citizens,
3
and to make that
identity the only politically relevant territorial identity, since
it is a central element in the cohesion of the state in periods of
external [binary] and internal [segmentary] pressure, 147.
a. Idealistic: The existing ethnoreligious lines will be less
important than either ethnical or religious identifications.
b. Realistic: Many will never identify solely with national
identity, which would have to supplant religious identity,
though ethnical identity may lose importance especially
where labor-markets favor national affiliation over
ethnical identification.
4. Ethnoterritorial Group Identification: the territory
naturally becomes a symbol for social kinship and an
inalienable part of common ethnic identity, (p.148).
a. Individuals as part of ethnical groups, historically bound
to territorial regions, are themselves individually
identified by their ethno-territoriality


5. Ethnonational identity can thus be said to be closely related to
an aspect of historical consciousness [and] collective memory.

3
See Section: 4 Important Criteria Concerning Nationalism
15
The Preconditions for Political Mobilization:
1. Concepts affect frames of reference and structures of expectation
147.
2. [KEY]: The Organization of Knowledge, E.G., Positivism
Generally
3. Method of disseminating this organization of Knowledge. [Brief]
4. Collective interpretative ability as a consequence of organized
knowledge [Brief Explanation], which means that the positivist
sees and interprets the world as a verificationist.
5. Ideological Substrate [Brief]
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1.8: General Theories of Nationalism
Theories of Nationalism, Umut Ozkirimli
10 Theories of Nationalism:
1. Humanitarian Nationalism:
i. A theory of nationalism that espouses natural law and
presented as inevitable, p.32. The earliestkind of formal
nationalism, p. 32.
2. Jacobin Nationalism:
Democratic and Revolutionary
i. Theoretical Conception advanced by: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
ii. Evolved from Democratic Nationalism
iii. Based in [the] theory on the humanitarian democratic
nationalism of Rousseau.
iv. Four Characteristics of Jacobin Nationalism:
1. Suspicious and intolerant of internal dissent, p.33
2. relied on force and militarism to attain its ends, p.33
3. fanatically religious, p.33.
4. imbued with missionary zeal, p.33
3. Traditional Nationalism:
Aristocratic and Evolutionary
i. Theoretical Conception advanced by: Edmund Burke
ii. Evolved from Aristocratic Nationalism
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iii. preached loyalty to family, locality and region, and glorified
the aristocrat
4

iv. emphasized history and tradition rather than reason
[humanitarian] and revolution, [Jacobin] p.370.
4. Liberal Nationalism:
i. Theoretical Conception advanced by: Jeremy Bentham
ii. Sought to limit the scope and functions of government in all
spheres of lifenationality was the proper basis for state and
government. Warwas peculiarly bad and should be
eliminated. p. 33
iii. Believed that, each nationality should be a political unit
under an independent constitutional government which
would put an end to despotism, aristocracy and ecclesiastical
influence, and assure to every citizen the broadest practicable
exercise of personal liberty, p. 34
5. Integral Nationalism:
i. Theoretical Conception advanced by: Charles Maurras
ii. The exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute
maintenance of national integrity and the steady increase of
national power for a nation declines when it loses its
might
iii. The nation is an end in itself
iv. refuses cooperation with other nations
v. the subordination of all personal liberties to its own
purpose




4
CONTEMPORARY IDEAS AND THEORIES OF NATIONALISM Muhammad Badiul
Alam, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 41, No. 3 (September 1980), pp. 367-378,
p.370

17
6. Territorial Nationalism:
i. Pre-Independence movements based on a civic model of the
nation will first seek to eject foreign rulers, the establish a
new state-nation on the old colonial territory; [the] anti-
colonial nationalists. p. 155.
ii. Post-Independence movements based on a civic model of the
nation will try to bring together often disparate ethnic
populations and integrate them into a new political
community replacing the old colonial state; [the] integration
nationalist. p. 155.
7. Ethnic Nationalism:
i. Pre-Independence movements based on an
ethnic/genealogical model of the nation will seek to secede
from the larger political unit and set up a new ethno-nation
in its place; these are secession and Diaspora nationalists.
[See Section 2.2 for processes]
ii. Post-Independence movements based on an
ethnic/genealogical model of the nation will seek to expand
by including ethnic kinsmen outside the present boundaries
and establish a much larger ethno-nation through the union
of culturally and ethnically similar states p.155.
8. Primordialism:
i. [See Section 2.1]
9. Modernism:
i. [See Section 2.2]
10. Ethno-Symbolic Nationalism:
i. [See Section 2.3]

Nationalism without Ethnicity
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism
11. Basis in shared meaning rather than group competition,
p.115
12. National identity politics should embrace a mosaic of
cultures [Brief Explanation]
18
i. The nation is imagined as a mosaic, 115, [rather than a
melting pot]
13. The depiction of the nation as a supra-ethnic or non-ethnic
community p.116.
i. Operationalized through (1) supra-ethnic compromise.
[Open to interdisciplinary participation] (2) and some
degree of supra-ethnic symbolism is required, p.116.
14. [Assumption] is not that ethnical identities are no longer
relevant, this is false, the assumption is that ethnical identities
play have only or less significantly micro-level, communal
importance and never ever national importance, which is supra-
ethnic.
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1.9: Ethnicity versus Nationalism
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity versus Nationalism Journal of Peace
Research, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 263-278.

Ethnical and National Ideological Tensions:

[When its Done Poorly]:
a nation is dominated by [one] ethnic group which den(ies) [their]
ethnic identity (instead presenting themselves simply as citizens or
humans) and relegate(s) others to minority [ethnical] status or [seeks
to] assimilate them.
5

EG: the hyphenated-American. There is no White-American. To be
American, as articulated in language is to be White, i.e., its articulation
assumes Whiteness, which is a denial of ethnical Whiteness, subsumed
in national identification, while relegating others to identify their
ethnical identities, e.g., African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-
American etc
[When its Done Well]:
Ethnic ideologies are at odds with dominant nationalist ideologies,
since the latter tend to promote cultural similarity and wide-ranging

5
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism
19
integration of all the inhabitants of the nation-state, regardless of their
ethnic membership, p. 263.
Nationalist ideologies inherently assume a totalizing ethnical scope
[assuming a morally operative stance]. In truth national ideologies do
not pertain to ethnic identities, though policies might and probably
will. Nationalist ideologies seek to unite or unify cultural practices
and ethnical distinctiveness via citizenship [Explain]
Nationalism is the ideology of the modern nation-sate.
6


6 Forms of Nationalistic Pressures:
Assumes that state boundaries should be identical with cultural
boundaries, 265.
3 Negative National Pressure on Ethnical Identities:
1. Migration
2. Extermination
3. Enforced Assimilation
3 Positive National Pressure on Ethnical Identities
1. Allegiance:
2. Benefits of Social Contract: [See Platos Crito]
3. Satisfaction of Needs
Fourth World indigenous populations are a good example of
population that are ethnically distinct but may choose autonomous
existence rather than formulating and espousing nationalist ideologies.

How Ethnical Groupings Formalize Nationalistic Ideologies:
1. Recognition that a single ethnic group is inherently limited
by its distinct social demography.
a. Negative Interpretation: Potentially becomes
genocidal as it interprets ethnical and interethnic
relations as potential threats to the State, (which is
defined solely by its ethnic demography) [Explain].
i. Always unsustainable. [Explain]

6
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism, p. 97.

20
b. Positive Interpretation: Recognition that being
political approximates total ethnical inclusion, via
representation, pluralism etc, and organizes the system
for its realization as the means of gaining political
control.
i. Usually Sustainable [Explain]
4 Important Criteria Concerning Nationalism:
Nationalism entails the ideological justification of a
state, actual or potential, (p.265). [Brief Explain]
it sometimes serves to identify a large number of people
as outsiders, but it may also define an ever increasing
number of people as insiders and thereby encourage
social integration on a higher level than that which is
current, (p.266). [Brief Explain]
[KEY]: Nationalism is ever emergent and must be
defended and justified ideologically, (p.266).
All men and women are citizens, (p.266).
o [Brief Explanation]: the society of individuals
was simultaneously defined as a polity of
citizens[thus]the nation was simply the
body of citizens and only the political rights of
citizens not their cultural identities mattered.
7

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2.0: Ethnicity versus Nationalism (Continued)
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity versus Nationalism Journal of Peace
Research, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 263-278.
Two Main Threats to Nationalism:
1. Agents of Subversion:
a. Individual Saboteurs: relatively easy to contain [Explain]
b. Ethnical Saboteurs: necessitates a genocidal campaign
2. Agents of Fission:
a. Individual Agent: Nearly Impossible to Accomplish
[Explain]

7
Theories of Nationalism
21
b. Ethnical Agents: Hugely problematic, almost certainly
devout ideologues [religious, political etc].

Nationalist strategies are truly successful only when the state
simultaneously increases its sphere of influence and responds credibly to
popular demands. It is tautologically true that if the nation-state and its
agencies can satisfy perceived needs in ways acknowledged by the
citizens [Great Emphasis on Poll #s], then its inhabitants become
nationalists, (p.267).

Understanding the Threats to National-Integration:
1. Social relationships [capable of satisfying] perceived needs
a. The nation not only has a monopoly on the legitimate use of
violence, etc. it also has a monopoly of the satisfaction of
needs.
2. Segregationist Ideologies
3. Ethnical Incommensurability: E.G. Hutu-Tutsi, any ethnical
generational conflict/grievance.
4. Disparate Socioeconomic Divisions
Binary and Segmentary Ideological Substrates:
The Ethnical/Kinship Basis for Identity and Identity Based Conflict:
A Segmentary Ideological Substrate:
See my International War Videos for the basis of
segmentary conflicts.


22
The National Basis for Identity:
Heavily based in Carl Schmitts conceptualization of the friend-enemy.
A Binary Ideological Substrate:



The binary opposition is based in (t)he specific political distinction to
which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between
friend and enemy, [who needs] not be morally evil or aesthetically
uglybut he is, nevertheless, the other, the stranger; and it is sufficient
for his nature that he isexistentially something different and alien,
(p.26-27). [Brief Explanation].
8


First and Third World conflict may potentially be lessened by a First
World conceptual identification with Third World ethnical groups
rather than tribal identification since ethnical groups are represented in
the First World, [empathic condition].
PRO: An ability to see the Third World other, via ethnical lines,
lines similar to our ethnical divisions.
CON: To selectively choose to identify ethnical rather than tribal
identities institutionalizes the imposition of First World modes of
identification throughout the world.

Concerning the Possibility of a Nationalistic Morality:
1. [KEY]: The attempt to subsume micro-level ethnical
segmentary conflicts at the national, macro-level, becomes a
moral act. [Brief Explanation].
2. [KEY]: Interethnic segmentary conflict typically occurs
intrastate, which potentially weakens national-interests. Thus,
to strengthen national-interests there should either (1) be an
attempt to resolve or mediate interethnic segmentary conflict,

8
Carl Schmitt The Concept of the Political. p. 26-27
23
[less likely and idealistic] OR, (2) incentivize a more binary
worldview.
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2.1: Theories of Nationalism: Primordialism
Theories of Nationalism, Umut Ozkirimli

Primordialism:
Formalized by Edward Shils
the belief that nationality is a natural part of human beings p.49
the givens that stems from being born into a particular religious
community, [community/custom] speaking a particular language, or
even a dialect of a language, and following particular social practices,
p.49.

4 Categories of Primordialism:
The Primordialist has a belief in, and representation of, the nation as a
mystical, a-temporal, even transcendental entity whose survival is more
important than the survival of its individual members ay any given time,
p. 52.
1. Nationalist:
a. an inherent attribute of the human condition p.51.
b. [Assumption]: human beings can only flourish p.51.
[subjectively interpreted] if they belong to national
community]
5 Themes Informing Primordial-Nationalism:
i. The Notion of Antiquity: AKA Perennialist POV. The
historical need to ground and legitimize national
existence within the historical context of its emergence.
EG. The preconditions for the emergence of the United
States predate 1776. [Explain].
ii. The Golden Age: Egypt as the ultimate reference
iii. The Superiority of the National Culture: obviously
conflictual and antithetical to 21
st
century global
interdependence.
24
iv. An Awakening from Somnolence: [Phoenix
metaphor].
v. The National Hero: as revolutionary/activist,
revolutionary-activist.
2. Sociobiological:
a. Holds that is indeed an objective, external basis to the
existence of such [ethnical] groups without denying that
these groups are also socially constructed. [Consequence of
genes etc].
9

3. Culturalist: AKA Cultural Primordialist
Three Main Ideas within Primordialism
There is some debate concerning the nature of these givens, i.e.,
whether they are in-and-of-themselves determinant cause for nationhood
or whether they are assumed. [I interpret them as an assumption, being
that ethnical identity is biological real].
a. Primordial identities are given, a priori, undervied,
naturalrather than sociological, p.55.
b. Primordial sentiments are ineffable, overpowering, and
coerciveif an individual is a member of a group, he or she
necessarily feels certain attachments to that group and its
practices, p.55.
c. Primordialism is essentially a question of emotion and
affect, p.55.
4. Perennialist:
a. Perennialism refers to those who believe in the historical
antiquity of the nation, p.58
b. In contrast to the Culturalist and the Sociobiological
theoretical position on nationalism. They do not treat the
nation as a fact of nature; but they see it as a constant and
fundamental feature of human life, p.58.



9
See Section Titled: 4 Criteria for Pierre van den Berghes Sociobiological Fitness:

25
Two Versions of Perennialism:
1. Continuous Perennialism:
i. Emphasizes the continuity in identity. SEE the concept of
Antiquity as one of the themes of Primordialism
2. Recurrent Perennialism:
i. The nation is viewed as a category of human association
that can be found everywhere throughout history. Particular
nations may come and go, but the nation itself is ubiquitous,
p.58.
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2.2: Theories of Nationalism: Modernism
Theories of Nationalism, Umut Ozkirimli

Modernism:
the nationhas become a sociological necessity, p.72 [Explain]
Nationalism comes to form, in the era between the French and
Industrial Revolutions, p.75.
The uneven wave of modernization over state territories creates
advanced and less advanced groups [within the state]resources
and power are distributed unequally between the two groups. The
powerful group, or the core tries to stabilize its advantages through the
institutionalization of the existing stratification system. The economy of
the core is characterized by a diversified industrial structure, whereas the
peripheral economy is dependent and complementary to that of the
core, p. 80.
The core will dominate the periphery politically and exploit it
economically, p.79.
1. Political Domination [Explain]
2. Economic Exploitation [Explain]






26
Process of Ethnic Nationalism:
[See Section 1.8 #7 for systematic account]:



Conceptualization of Capital Expansionism via Nationalism:
1. The image does not represent increased geography, though it
could [Explain.
2. Ideological capitalism necessitates the formation of nations as a
means of propagating capitalism
3. Nations and nationalismare the products of specifically
modern processes like capitalism, [etc] p.72.
a. Capitalism becomes a necessary though not sufficient
condition for the emergence of the nation and nationalism
4. As capitalism spread, and smashed the ancient social
formations surrounding it, [ethnical identifications etc] these
always tended to fall apart along the fault-lines contained inside
them. It is a matter of elementary truth that these lines of fissure
were nearly always ones of nationality, p. 76-77.
non-dominant ethnic groupslack(ing) their own stateoccupy(ing) a
compact territorydominated by an exogenous ruling classi.e., [a
27
ruling class] belonging to a different ethnic groupsooner or later these
[non-dominant ethnic] groups became aware of their own ethnicity
and started to conceive of themselves as a potential nation p.114-115
John Breuilly on Nationalism and Political Transformation:
10

1. Articulates the notion of nationalism as a form of politics,
p.84.
2. nationalism is above all about politics and politics is about
power p.84-85.
3. The relationship between nationalism and modernization is one
of transformation wherein the division of labor supports
diversified sociological functions. [Explain]
a. [ME]: We must anticipate then that sociological
functions warranting transformations within the divisions
in labor will increase with technological advancements
etc, while antiquated sociological functions will decrease
as a consequence of technological obsolescence, e.g.,
switchboard operators etc.
b. [ME]: which necessitates that political power facilitate the
emerging divisions in labor by educational reform e.g.,
STEM.

Three Basic Assumptions for the Nationalist Argument:
1. There exists a nation with an explicit and peculiar character.
p.84.
2. The interests and values of this nation take priority over all
other interests and values. p.84.
3. The nation must be as independent as possible. This usually
requires at least the attainment of political sovereignty. p.84.







10
SEE Nationalism and State
28
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2.3: Theories of Nationalism: Ethnosymbolism
Theories of Nationalism, Umut Ozkirimli

Ethnosymbolism:
1. Emerges from the theoretical critique of modernism, p. 143.
2. argues that the rise of nations need to be contextualized within
the larger phenomenon of ethnicity which shaped them, 143.
3. [KEY]: contemporary nationalism is nothing but the final
stage of a larger cycle of ethnic consciousness reaching back to
the earliest forms of collective organization, p.145.
a. Collective organization is less about identification of
shared ethnical characteristic and more about exclusion
of others based on a lack of shared characteristics.

John A. Armstrongs Symbolic Boundary Mechanisms:



1. [Brief]: Role of the myth on the persistence on ethnical
identity.
2. ethnic groups are not necessarily based on the occupation of
particular, exclusive territories, p.146.
29
3. Mythomoteur: the myth engine: used nationally to preserves
the intense consciousness of loyalty and identity established
through face-to-face contact in the city-satemyth transference
for political purposes. p.147.
4. Armstrong makes a strong case for grounding the emergence
of modern national identities on patterns of ethnic persistence,
p.147 [KEY]: the mode in which these identities are neither
biological nor geographical but mythical.
a. Europes myth is that of the transition to sedentary
agricultural, which established a need for military might
etc.
b. The Middle East [Generally] established its national
identities on the genealogical kinships that determined
national affiliations, etc.
5. Ethnies: (ethnic communities): ethno-symbolism tracks the
changes in the narratives of ethnies in relation to emergences
and transformations in their ethnical identities.
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2.4 Nationalism and Symbology
Victor Turner. Symbolic Studies Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 4 (1975),
pp. 145-161, p.145.
The Political Use of Symbols:
[DEF]: Symbol: is a device for enabling us to make abstractions.
11

Social dynamics link pragmatic action to symbolic action [Explain].
[General background on Charles Sanders Peirces Semiotic Theory]
a. Symbolic Action: operational but unknown, i.e., to collective
consciousness. Socially constructed by the intelligentsia to
facilitate pragmatic action.
i. Q: How is this process facilitated: A: symbols, icons,
and indices
b. Pragmatic Action: is collectively contingent on the proper
motives, which are created and embedded in cultural,

11
Victor Turner. Symbolic Studies Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 4 (1975), pp. 145-
161, p.145.
30
national, religious symbology for the purpose of
coordination, mobilization etc.
c. EG: By definition a threat is relational in its character. (1) a
knife alone is a knife. (2) Blood on someones hand alone is
blood on someones hand, (3) a clenched fist is a clenched
fist BUT someones holding a knife with blood on his hand
while clenching his fist binds the relationship between the
knife and the blood and implies that he is the killer. See
below:

d. The image itself it powerful enough, to motivate action in
response to the implication that he is in fact the killer.
e. A clear visual depiction of the motivation of action in
response to implication is the expertly done 2014 Buick
LaCrosse Dance Commercial.
i. Dad identifies the young boy as a threat. In response to
this threat he sends the relational signal [indices] to his
daughter and her suitor, via the radio, that therell be
no hanky-panky. She says, We get it. BUT nothing
was communicated other than dad playing music.
Symbols are "instruments of expression, of communication, of
knowledge and of control p. 145.

Analysis of the 2014 Buick LaCrosse Dance Commercial:
Expression:
a. Dad is expressing his recognition of the suitors possible
intent.
31
Communication:
b. Dad is communicating his expectations for their conduct by
initiating the music playlist.
Knowledge:
c. The daughter acknowledges both the reception of this
indirect communication, which means that she acknowledges
the potential threat. This is demonstrated by her saying,
We got it. Meaning the reception of dads expectation.

Control:
d. Dad accomplishes two things, you have to look closely at the
end of the video. (1) His daughter will conform (2) the
young boy recognizes that her father poses a threat to his
own wellbeing, albeit insignificant (for the commercial), and
he did this without having to directly threaten the boy.



The actors face perfectly captures his knowledge of the threat dad
poses him if he does not conform with dads expectations.
[Any nation uses symbols in exactly the same way, creating nonverbal
cues, which condition behavioral expectations among the mass. These
cues acknowledge existing threats and pose new threat to those that
would seek to undermine national interest].

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THE END
32