Ο ΥΠΕΡΤΑΞΙΚΟΣ ΧΑΡΑΚΤΗΡΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΙΚΙΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΥ

Abstract

The paper addresses two of the most perplexing aspects of nationalism across its major manifestations in time and space; namely, the diversity of the social composition of the supporters of the national ideals and the non-existence or vagueness of references to social problems in the nationalist discourse. It argues that the lack of generic or consistent associations between nation and class constitutes a major analytical problem for the theory of nationalism. It is a question which may lie at the heart of the historically unprecedented plasticity of form, dynamism, expansiveness and durability of the nationalist phenomenon and which, in itself, calls into question some primary assumptions of conventional social theory.