Imagined Communities

by

Benedict Anderson

Popular Nationalism Term Analysis

Popular nationalism is Anderson’s term for nationalist sentiment driven by a country’s common people, often as a result of grievances against the ruling class or a majority group’s sense that it is being marginalized in a country it believes it should exclusively control. This contrasts with official nationalism.

Popular Nationalism Quotes in Imagined Communities

The Imagined Communities quotes below are all either spoken by Popular Nationalism or refer to Popular Nationalism. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Nation as Imagined Community Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

Thus the model of official nationalism assumes its relevance above all at the moment when revolutionaries successfully take control of the state, and are for the first time in a position to use the power of the state in pursuit of their visions. The relevance is all the greater insofar as even the most determinedly radical revolutionaries always, to some degree, inherit the state from the fallen regime.

Related Characters: Benedict Anderson (speaker)
Page Number: 159
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

In the original edition of Imagined Communities I wrote that so often in the “nation-building” policies of the new states one sees both a genuine, popular nationalist enthusiasm, and a systematic, even Machiavellian, instilling of nationalist ideology through the mass media, the educational system, administrative regulations, and so forth. My short-sighted assumption then was that official nationalism in the colonized worlds of Asia and Africa was modelled directly on that of the dynastic states of nineteenth-century Europe. Subsequent reflection has persuaded me that this view was hasty and superficial, and that the immediate genealogy should be traced to the imaginings of the colonial state. At first sight, this conclusion may seem surprising, since colonial states were typically anti-nationalist, and often violently so. But if one looks beneath colonial ideologies and policies to the grammar in which, from the mid nineteenth century, they were deployed, the lineage becomes decidedly more clear.

Related Characters: Benedict Anderson (speaker)
Page Number: 163
Explanation and Analysis:
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Popular Nationalism Term Timeline in Imagined Communities

The timeline below shows where the term Popular Nationalism appears in Imagined Communities. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Official Nationalism and Imperialism
Centralization, Technology, and Power Theme Icon
Piracy and the Uses of History Theme Icon
...their principal language, and only a few years after they successfully made it so, a popular nationalist rebellion overthrew them. The “official” imperial nationalists regained power after a few years, and trouble... (full context)
Centralization, Technology, and Power Theme Icon
Piracy and the Uses of History Theme Icon
Anderson concludes this chapter by summarizing his argument. The “official nationalisms” followed “ popular linguistic-nationalisms ” as “power-groups” tried to hold onto their control when faced with the rise of... (full context)
Chapter 7: The Last Wave
The Nation as Imagined Community Theme Icon
Centralization, Technology, and Power Theme Icon
...Two, which were mostly outside Europe but still used European languages in government. They combined popular nationalism with official nationalism, and are still largely works in progress. And they preserved the borders... (full context)
Chapter 8: Patriotism and Racism
The Nation as Imagined Community Theme Icon
Centralization, Technology, and Power Theme Icon
...and purity within nations. In empires, racism arose when the upper classes tried to replace popular nationalism with official nationalism, and because the bourgeoisie could pretend to be nobility in colonies, performing... (full context)