Banal NationalismSAGE, 1995 M08 15 - 208 pages Michael Billig presents a major challenge to orthodox conceptions of nationalism in this elegantly written book. While traditional theorizing has tended to the focus on extreme expressions of nationalism, the author turns his attention to the everyday, less visible forms which are neither exotic or remote, he describes as `banal nationalism′. The author asks why people do not forget their national identity. He suggests that in daily life nationalism is constantly flagged in the media through routine symbols and habits of language. Banal Nationalism is critical of orthodox theories in sociology, politics and social psychology for ignoring this core feature of national identity. Michael Billig argues forcefully that with nationalism continuing to be a major ideological force in the contemporary world, it is all the more important to recognize those signs of nationalism which are so familiar that they are easily overlooked. |
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Page 2
... depicting a Union Jack with a soldier's face at its heart; readers were invited to hang the display in their front windows. Within weeks, the enemy army had capitulated. On 27 February 1991, Bush, speaking again from his Oval Office ...
... depicting a Union Jack with a soldier's face at its heart; readers were invited to hang the display in their front windows. Within weeks, the enemy army had capitulated. On 27 February 1991, Bush, speaking again from his Oval Office ...
Page 17
... depict contemporary loyalties to nation-states as instances of something which is psychologically general, or endemic to the human condition. Thus, such loyalties might be theoretically transmuted into 'needs for identity', 'attachments ...
... depict contemporary loyalties to nation-states as instances of something which is psychologically general, or endemic to the human condition. Thus, such loyalties might be theoretically transmuted into 'needs for identity', 'attachments ...
Page 19
... depicting community, is a historically specific form of consciousness. On the first page of Nations and Nationalism, Gellner asserts that "nationalism is primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and the national ...
... depicting community, is a historically specific form of consciousness. On the first page of Nations and Nationalism, Gellner asserts that "nationalism is primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and the national ...
Page 20
... depict Jerusalem at the centre of things; not only do they typically indicate an incomplete world, with distant ... depicts a completed world, divided up by precisely drawn boundaries. This is the sort of map which is familiar to 'us ...
... depict Jerusalem at the centre of things; not only do they typically indicate an incomplete world, with distant ... depicts a completed world, divided up by precisely drawn boundaries. This is the sort of map which is familiar to 'us ...
Page 36
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Contents
1 | |
13 | |
Remembering Banal Nationalism 377 | 37 |
National Identity in the World of Nations | 60 |
Flagging the Homeland Daily | 93 |
Postmodernity and Identity | 128 |
Philosophy as a Flag for the Pax Americana | 154 |
Concluding Remarks | 174 |
References | 178 |
Name Index | 193 |
Subject Index | 199 |
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Common terms and phrases
according American appear argued assumed audience banal banal nationalism become boundaries Britain British called Cambridge century Chapter citizens claim consciousness contemporary context continue created critics culture daily deixis described discourse distinction established ethnic Europe example exist familiar flag force foreign forgetting French global Guardian habits hegemony homeland hopes idea ideology imagined important independence individual interests language liberal linguistic live London major means merely movements nation-state national identity nationalist nationhood natural newspapers ourselves particular party patriotic patterns person philosophy political politicians postmodern present President Press psychological readers represent rhetoric Rorty Rorty's routine seek seems seen sense social society sort speak speakers speech sporting stereotypes story suggested symbols talking tend term territory themes theory thinking tradition United universal waved whole world of nations writes