Primordialism for Scholars Who Ought to Know Better
Anthony D. Smith’s Critique of Modernization Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11048864 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexander Maxwell (0000-0002-5332-5795, Victoria University of Wellington, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 826-842 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nationalities Papers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/nps.2019.93 |
| OpenAlex | W3013396229 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 46 |
A theory of nationalism should explain the evidence provided by the historical record, but also provide unexpected insight. The modernist theory of nationalism, espoused among others by Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm, provides a surprising chronology of nationalism’s modernity. The modernization theory of nationalism has attracted extensive criticism from Anthony Smith, who proposed instead a theory he called “ethnosymbolism.” This article considers Smith’s critique of Anderson and then his critique of Hobsbawm, finding that Smith’s objections to modernist theorists rest on mischaracterizations, fallacies, and contradictions. Smith’s approach caters to the primordialism rampant in public opinion, providing scholarly respectability to popular misconceptions. Scholars of nationalism should look instead to Rogers Brubaker for guidance
Criticism · Epistemology · Modernity · Modernization theory · Nationalism · Political science · Sociology · Historical Studies of British Isles · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy · Scottish History and National Identity
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Lebanese Phoenicianism
Ethno-Imagined Communities
Popular and Scholarly Primordialism
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Theories of nationalism
The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism
When is the Nation?
The Transformation of Southeast Asia
The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements
Nations and Nationalism since 1780
Nations and nationalism in a global era
The ethnic origins of nations
Ethnonationalism
German Nationalism and Religious Conflict
Rationalism in Politics, and Other Essays
Nations and Nationalism
Nations as Zones of Conflict
Education as a Political Tool in Asia
Ethnicity without groups
Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism
The Politics of Nation Building and Citizenship in Singapore
Stigmatized by History or by Historians? The Peoples of Russia in School History Textbooks
Re‐Writing the History of Romania after the Fall of Communism
Nationalism, Ethnicity and Self‐determination
Anthony D. Smith on nations and national identity
Ethnic Nationalism and the Plight of Minorities
Soviet patriotism in a comparative perspective
Soviet Patriotism and its Discontents among Higher Education Students in Khrushchev-Era Russia and Ukraine
Nationalism and Modernism
Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities
Nationalism
Ethnic groups in conflict
The nation as an artichoke? A critique of ethnosymbolist interpretations of nationalism
Towards Community Formation in Southeast Asia? History Education, Asean and the Nation-State
Empire-nation
Social Unity in Britain
Constructing Primordialism
When is a Nation
The terms of the debate
Beyond 'identity
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |