Limity a možnosti skúmania „národov“: od reálnych skupín ku kategóriám praxe
Limits and Alternative Ways of Studying the „Nations“: From Real Groups to the Categories of Practice

Summary/Abstract: Limits and Alternative Ways of Studying the „Nations“: From Real Groups to the Categories of Practice. Article briefly scrutinises dominant theories of nationalism and contemporary theoretical discussions, which challenge the traditional view of „nation“ as the category of analysis. Such theoretical challenges transcend the key questions of nationalism studies „What is the nation?“, „When did it come to existence?“ by approaching the „nations“ not as real groups but rather as categories of social practice, which are constructed and reproduced by various discursive formations – systems of representation. Historiographical concepts of ethnogenesis and „migrations of nations“ are used as examples of intellectual reification of „nation“ as real, historical group. „Nation“ is thus considered as powerful and pervasive category of practice yet rather weak and limited category of analysis. Sociológia 2006, Vol. 38 (No. 4: 313-326)

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