No Capitalism Without Nationalism

Most theories of nationalism labelled as ‘modernist’ tend to overlook the fact that the phenomenon to which they vaguely refer as ‘Modernity’ is defined by a single, very precise and consistent socio-economic system, that of capitalism. However, this fact makes nationalism and capitalism, rather tha...

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Autor principal:	Zlatko Hadžidedić
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Academicus 2021
Materias:	nationalism; capitalism; liberalism; neoliberalism; globalisation Social Sciences H Economics as a science HB71-74
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1804750f14684ba18ced9b14a2b74bb1
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:1804750f14684ba18ced9b14a2b74bb1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1804750f14684ba18ced9b14a2b74bb12021-12-02T17:48:50ZNo Capitalism Without Nationalism2079-371510.7336/academicus.2021.24.04https://doaj.org/article/1804750f14684ba18ced9b14a2b74bb12021-07-01T00:00:00Z http://www.academicus.edu.al/nr24/Academicus-MMXXI-24-060-077.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2079-3715Most theories of nationalism labelled as ‘modernist’ tend to overlook the fact that the phenomenon to which they vaguely refer as ‘Modernity’ is defined by a single, very precise and consistent socio-economic system, that of capitalism. However, this fact makes nationalism and capitalism, rather than nationalism and ‘Modernity’, practically congruent. From this perspective, the essential question that arises is whether the emergence of these two was a spontaneous but compatible and useful coincidence, or nationalism was capitalism’s deliberate invention? In the capitalist era, society has become merely a resource whose existence enables functioning of the market. Such a society must destroy all traditional communal ties on which the maintenance of traditional society was based, so that the principles of reciprocity and solidarity be replaced by the procedures of asymmetric economic exchange. Once the procedures of asymmetric economic exchange become the central principle of human relations, society stops functioning as a whole and becomes sharply divided into two parts – a well-organised and tightly-structured network of self-interested individuals permanently striving for perpetual economic gain and a shapeless mob of socially dislodged labour permanently striving for mere survival. The incessant widening of the gap between the two strata makes capitalism’s essential principle of endless accumulation of capital socially unsustainable. For, rapidly urbanised masses, forced into selling their labour below the minimal price, contain a permanently present insurrectionary potential that might threaten stability of the entire system. So, bridging that gap without actually changing the structure of society becomes the paramount task for the system trying to preserve its mechanism of incessant exploitation of labour and limitless accumulation of capital. Therefore, the system has to introduce a social glue that is tailored to conceal, but also to cement, the actual polarisation of society. At the same time, this glue is designed to compensate the uprooted masses for the loss of their authentic identities by replacing these with a single artificial one. This multi-purpose invention is an abstract concept of absolute social unity, named “the nation”, based on the assumption that those who are located on both sides of the gap, no matter whether they are on the exploiting or exploited side, automatically share the same equal rights, same common interests, and same identity.Zlatko HadžidedićAcademicusarticlenationalism; capitalism; liberalism; neoliberalism; globalisationSocial SciencesHEconomics as a scienceHB71-74ENAcademicus International Scientific Journal, Vol MMXXI, Iss 24, Pp 60-77 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	nationalism; capitalism; liberalism; neoliberalism; globalisation Social Sciences H Economics as a science HB71-74
spellingShingle	nationalism; capitalism; liberalism; neoliberalism; globalisation Social Sciences H Economics as a science HB71-74 Zlatko Hadžidedić No Capitalism Without Nationalism
description	Most theories of nationalism labelled as ‘modernist’ tend to overlook the fact that the phenomenon to which they vaguely refer as ‘Modernity’ is defined by a single, very precise and consistent socio-economic system, that of capitalism. However, this fact makes nationalism and capitalism, rather than nationalism and ‘Modernity’, practically congruent. From this perspective, the essential question that arises is whether the emergence of these two was a spontaneous but compatible and useful coincidence, or nationalism was capitalism’s deliberate invention? In the capitalist era, society has become merely a resource whose existence enables functioning of the market. Such a society must destroy all traditional communal ties on which the maintenance of traditional society was based, so that the principles of reciprocity and solidarity be replaced by the procedures of asymmetric economic exchange. Once the procedures of asymmetric economic exchange become the central principle of human relations, society stops functioning as a whole and becomes sharply divided into two parts – a well-organised and tightly-structured network of self-interested individuals permanently striving for perpetual economic gain and a shapeless mob of socially dislodged labour permanently striving for mere survival. The incessant widening of the gap between the two strata makes capitalism’s essential principle of endless accumulation of capital socially unsustainable. For, rapidly urbanised masses, forced into selling their labour below the minimal price, contain a permanently present insurrectionary potential that might threaten stability of the entire system. So, bridging that gap without actually changing the structure of society becomes the paramount task for the system trying to preserve its mechanism of incessant exploitation of labour and limitless accumulation of capital. Therefore, the system has to introduce a social glue that is tailored to conceal, but also to cement, the actual polarisation of society. At the same time, this glue is designed to compensate the uprooted masses for the loss of their authentic identities by replacing these with a single artificial one. This multi-purpose invention is an abstract concept of absolute social unity, named “the nation”, based on the assumption that those who are located on both sides of the gap, no matter whether they are on the exploiting or exploited side, automatically share the same equal rights, same common interests, and same identity.
format	article
author	Zlatko Hadžidedić
author_facet	Zlatko Hadžidedić
author_sort	Zlatko Hadžidedić
title	No Capitalism Without Nationalism
title_short	No Capitalism Without Nationalism
title_full	No Capitalism Without Nationalism
title_fullStr	No Capitalism Without Nationalism
title_full_unstemmed	No Capitalism Without Nationalism
title_sort	no capitalism without nationalism
publisher	Academicus
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1804750f14684ba18ced9b14a2b74bb1
work_keys_str_mv	AT zlatkohadzidedic nocapitalismwithoutnationalism
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No Capitalism Without Nationalism

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