The Construction of National Identity - On Primordialism and Instrumentalism
The Construction of National Identity - On Primordialism and Instrumentalism

Summary/Abstract: The author argues that the content of the concept of „national identity“ is determined by the way how we construe „nation“. She submits two ways of construing the nation as basic ideal types: primordial versus instrumental. In primordial terminology the nation is primarily the „ethno-nation“, i.e. a community which unites individuals through „the same blood and common fate“. The instrumental way of construing the nation stresses the pragmatic and situational aspects of large communities. Thus it approaches the political understanding of the nation. The beliefs about the character of the nation prevailing within a particular community, determine the identification of the member of this community with the nation. Terminological chaos governs this area of life as well as research on it. The concept of „nationalism“ can serve as an example: it denotes loyalty to the state as an instrumental political formation. Simultaneously, however, within the ideology of nationalism, the state is introduced as a primordial community. The aim of this paper is: 1. the analysis of the ways of construing the „nation” as a form of social reality by individuals; 2. the use of the construing about the nation in public, cultural, and political discourses; 3. consequences of the ways of construing the nation for the national identity of individuals.

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