Cultural Diversity and Social Media II:
Nations, Media and the Creation of Difference
Eugenia Siapera
[email protected]
Outline
Why nations?
Some definitions
Theories of the nation/Theories of the media
–
Primordialism and perennialism
–
The modernist paradigms
Conclusions
Why nations and nationalism
The nation-state: a form of political organization
that produces ethno-cultural diversity
How are nations created?
Theories discussed from the point of view of two
issues:
–
Relationship between nations and difference
–
Relationship between the media and the nation
Some definitions
Ethnie: The 'ethnic' basis of the nation (historical, cultural
linguistic) (Smith, 1986)
Nation-state: the political community that typically includes
more than one ethnies.
State: a human community that successfully claims the
monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given
territory (Weber, 1919)
Nationalism: the ideological proposition that the ethnic and
political community should always coincide (Gellner, 1983)
National identity: the self-ascriptions that form the
substantive part of the nation – the answers to the question:
What is it to be Chinese, Finnish, British, Greek etc.
Primordialism and Perennialism
Nations exist because they reflect primordial ties and
attachments. These can be biological or cultural
Biological (van den Berghe, 1967)
–
Nations as extended kin groups and families
People engaged in practices that maximize socio-biological
advantages (inclusive fitness)
Nations organize and behave as superfamilies
Similarity markers (e.g. race, culture, language) determine who
is a member
Commonalities of culture/language reflect underlying biological
similarities
Primordialism and the Media
If nations are eternal, then the media can only act
as a platform for the expression of their culture and
will.
Media as transmitters of information with no
possibility to act upon the nation
Reflecting but not shaping the nation
Problems
Both strands overlook the historical specificty of nations
and nation-state as a political unit.
If nations existed more or less unchanged since time
immemorial, then how can we account for their dynamism
and shifts across history?
Socio-biological explanation: reductionist in that all
explanations revert to biology
Culturalist explanation: deterministic, ignores dynamism
and historical evolution
Political problems: difference 'essentialized' and 'naturally'
excluded – policy makers cannot oppose nature.
The modernist paradigm
Different economic, political, socio-cultural etc
approaches subsumed here
Central tenet: the character of the nation is modern,
meaning that it emerged at the same time as
modernity, capitalism, and the industrial revolution.
Three main exponents:
–
Gellner (1983): nations and nationalism as a result of
industrial capitalism
–
Hobsbawm (1983): the domination of tradition
–
Anderson (1983): print capitalism and the nation
Primordialism and Perennialism
Cultural primordialism associated with Geertz (1973)
Nations developed on the basis of shared 'speech and
custom'
Homogeneity precedes the formation of the political
community (the nation-state) but also sustains it.
Both biological and cultural approaches hold that the
nation is a natural given.
Perennialism (Hastings, 1997): nations existed since time
immemorial but not necessarily natural – particular nations
come and go, but this form of organization persists.
For perennialists, there is no distinction between ethnie
and nation
Modernism I: Ernest Gellner
Industrial capitalism required a technically able
workforce – the nation could guarantee this
Nations are contingent:
they are not universal
nor are they the same
across history.
What then precipitated
their rise?
Modernism I: What room for
difference?
As capitalism spreads in an uneven manner, nationalism did not
always guarantee a smooth transition to nation-states.
Conflict and fission often emerged -Two principles of fission:
–
Barriers to communication: a single language and culture must be
adopted
–
Inhibitors of social entropy: the existence of people/groups who
cannot be assimilated
Typical inhibitors: religion and skin pigment
Difference within nationalism considered a barrier to harmony
Only possibility for acceptance of difference: get rid of
nationalism - but can nations exist without nationalism?
Modernism I: The Media
The media operate as another means of imposing a
standardized language and culture
The media's task: to homogenize the nation
–
e.g. Lord Reith's 1920s ideals of the BBC: to educate,
inform, entertain (with highbrow music!); using
standard 'BBC English' accents => 'making the nation
one man' (sic)
The media essential in maintaining the nation
Modernism I: Problems
Difference seen as the outcome and the enemy of the nation
Its only chance is to eradicate the nation – but in doing so, we
eradicate difference (as its very existence depends on the
nation!)
Gellner believed in a supranational form of political
organization similar to the Swiss canton system – but we can see
that difference can exist and thrive in nation-states
Some theoretical issues:
–
Functionalism: posits the existence of nations as necessarily based
on industrial capitalism
–
This cannot explain the rise of nationalistic movements in nonindustrial settings
Modernism II: Invented Traditions
The cultural homogenization of the nation due to the
imposition of a dominant culture from the top down
Invented traditions (e.g. US 4th July, Ghandi Jayanti in
India, UK Royal Celebrations, NL Koninginnedag):
inculcate values and norms and imply continuity
between past and present (Hobsbawm, 1983)
Produce bonding and solidarity, demand loyalty and
allegiance, and legitimate nation's existence.
National identity rests on these kinds of traditions and
the 'high culture' considered the nation's best.
Modernism II: The media
The role of the media crucial: traditions need to be
replayed and disseminated widely
Televised ceremonies essnetial for the maintenance of the
nation and national identity
Media's banal reference to national symbols important
(Billig, 1995).
Televised media events, e.g. Eurovision song contest,
Olympics, football competitions etc, all important
contributors to the maintenance of national identity.
Ritual practices repeated through the media enable social
cohesion.
Modernism III: Difference
Initially difference is ignored in favour of similarity and
commonality
However, invented traditions allow and even invite others
to join in.
So long as newcomers are willing to assimilate (i.e. lose
their distinctiveness) the nation's culture is willing to
accept them
Societies facing the modern anxiety (Giddens, 1991): loss
of traditional customs and beliefs and inability of new
beliefs to fill in the vaccum => half-baked attempts to
recreate new sets of values, e.g. references to
British/European etc values, that did not exist in the first
place.
Modernism II: Problems
A somewhat elitist view, that holds that the
'masses' are manipulated
No evidence that working classes are more
nationalistic (O'Leary, 1998)
Variations in invented traditions, their different
meanings for different groups, their rejection by
others etc., show that people are not easily duped.
Question of how did these practices come to be
accepted as normal?
Modernism III: Imagined Communities
The nation is an imagined political community (Anderson, 1983)
Nations not characterized by falsity/genuiness, but by the style in
which they are imagined
–
e.g. the US imagined in a very different way to that of Germany
Nations are inherently limited and sovereign, since they involve
borders and determine belongingness.
They owe their existence to the rise of print capitalism, which created
national publics:
–
through creating a common time frame,
–
through creating and spreading common narratives
–
through standardising local languages
Modernism III: The media
Rise of print media as catalyst for the creation of the
nation
Operating both at the level of construction of common
narratives and at the level of wide dissemination
Also, by allowing readers to imagine themselves as part
of the same community they were pivotal in nation
formation
In terms of both technologies and contents, the media
essential in the creation of the nation
Modernism III: Difference
Insofar as nation is imagined, it is capable of including
various others – e.g. US creole nationalism
However, nations are inherently limited - borders and
bounderies are placed: some will be excluded
If the nation is to be sovereign, it must determine the rules
and conditions of belonging
Anderson's idea of long-distance nationalism: the spread of
nationalistic feelings among diasporas through the media
One more thing: Globalization
How relevant is the naiton-state in an era of accelarated globalization?
Perennialists: ethnies will survive even without the protection of nationstates, see various movements from the Basques to Kurds, from
Chechnyans to Palestinians etc.
Marxists (Gellner, Hobsbawm): nations will remain only insofar, and as
long as, they serve capitalism
–
How may we interpret the current capitalism crisis vis-a-vis the
nation and its survival?
A modified modernist position might be that nations may reimagine
themselves in different terms.
–
How? An open question
Conclusions
Theories of the nation did not take into account internal
differences
Some allow more space for diversity than others
The media must be seen as playing a crucial role, both
historically (as Anderson showed) and in the present.
But shift from mass to social media requires that we
rethink media role:
–
no longer how the media constructed the nation but how the
media mediate the nation and cultural diversity