Cultural and instrumental approaches to ethnic nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2145643
AuthorsHudson Meadwell (0000-0003-4898-7409, McGill University, corresponding author)
Year1989
Volume12
Issue3
Pages309-328
Publication date1989-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.1989.9993637
OpenAlexW2009215518
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited50

This article identifies a set of assumptions that underlie culturalist approaches to ethnic nationalism and it assesses these assumptions from a particular instrumentalist point of view - collective-choice theory. It is argued that cultural approaches are structuralist, leaving little room for intentional explanations and, when agent-centred explanations are used, they are typically embedded within a moral economic theory of groups. In contrast, collective-choice theory is intentionalist and political-economic in orientation. From the perspective of these different approaches, the article examines a common dilemma of mobilization in nationalist movements - how popular support can be mobilized by activists who, for entrepreneurial or ideological reasons, have formed a nationalist organization. Empirical illustrations are drawn from interwar Brittany and contemporary Quebec

Dilemma · Economics · Epistemology · Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Ethnic nationalism · Ideology · Instrumentalism · Nationalism · Perspective (graphical · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Anthropology · Canadian Identity and History · Cultural Identity and Heritage · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Law

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