The Link between Development of Nationalism and Capitalism - Essay Example

How does Anderson (1983) link the development of nationalism to capitalism? Benedict Anderson got fame for his work ‘imagined communities’ as he got closest to answering the question people have sought for a long time (Jessup, 2001, p97). What exactly is nationalism? What brings people together to become a nation? Historians have tried to answer this for decades but their solutions to this answer have had apparent short falls. Anderson who is a historian and originally his expertise lie in the region of Southeast Asia has tried to bring up an acceptable answer to mystery of evolvement of nationalism in his book imagined communities. He in his book has argued that nations are in fact imagined communities. The rise in the popularity of nationalism in his perspective is a result of increasing capitalism and growth of print technology (Gay and Alekseeva, 1996, p122). According to Anderson a nation is a political community which is imagined. He justifies his statement of calling it imagined by stating that even in the smallest of nations all the members would never be able to meet, hear or interact in any way with most of the fellow members in their ‘nation’, they would never be able to know each person in the nation directly or indirectly, thus it is imagined as it’s in their mind they are a single community. So in Anderson’s point of view imagination plays an important role in creating national identity (Hutchcroft, 1998, p25). While reviewing the Anderson preposition in the context of development of nationalism to capitalism it is important to understand the conception of nationalism. It is an ideology which makes a group of individuals strongly identify together as a nation. It can also be described as attitude of a nation’s member when they all care about their general national identity. Capitalism on the other hand is an economic system where the majority of the assets of production, distribution etc. are owned and held by the private sector (individuals or firms) in an economy (Wood, 1991, p179). Anderson aimed to portray how the print capitalism , the development in the vernacular languages and publishing of books provided people the tools they had required to facilitate their imagination to believe that they belonged to a community that was much larger and had people similar to them, even if they never actually meet (Girling and Girling, 1997, p76) . In the pre nationalist era there was sovereignty of the languages that were considered to be sacred these included Arabic, Chinese and Latin. These were not understood by the peasant public. Divine Monarchs were held very important. There also existed a cosmological sense relating to past. The further developments than eliminated these factors as they became a thing of past with the invention of Capitalism and print media (Girling and Girling, 1997, p76). This new practice of capitalism in print media facilitated the birth of nationalism. Now the book market saw an expansion due to the capitalist movement, this resulted in vernacularization of the languages. The languages in print made common grounds for the communication. This than enabled the people of different languages and diverse cultures become aware of each other’s presence through the paper print media. This resulted in shrinking the global community, bringing them closer together, as this made people realize that millions of others existed who too shared the same language as theirs as well the nation (Cheah and Culler, 2003, p6). This capitalism in print media also helped in fixity of language, making it permanent so that it stabilizes and gives the language in print an antiquity sense which cultivates and grows the feeling of ideology of nationalism. The idea of print capitalism also gave an upper hand to certain languages because of their printability. That means that some had dialects that related closely to the print languages compare to others that were once commonly and persistently used throughout the course of history. These forces resulted in the created of modern languages with which now the nations are related, these also resulted the eclipse of the strong hold the ancient sacral languages had once held. During the course of 18th century the newspaper established a trend of vernacular readership which than often facilitated in defining a nation (Jessup, 2001, p97). This resulted in the ‘imagined’ nations as Anderson suggested. This capitalism in print technology was the major factor in linking the communities which previously had never found a special way to relate with each other and evolve a sense of nationalism. The language it seemed always played a crucial role in creating a national identity or sense of being a single community (Cheah and Culler, 2003, p6). Capitalism in print media played a significant role in originating the roots of nationalism. It held a special significance as it was the result of this that the book publishing led to the revolutionary vernacularization in the languages. It evoked the sense of belonging that never existed in people and communities before. It brought together people who never thought they would be able to relate to each other on any basis, further they were unaware of each other’s existence at all. The capitalism in the field of print media opened the doors for new and massive cultures that did not exist before. The print languages built a basic foundation for the nationalism in three major ways. Firstly they created a common field for the exchange of information and for the communication. Secondly, they gave a newly born fixity or permanence to the language of print. Thirdly, they resulted in creating new powerful languages that were different from the old ones that dominated the literature before and were only limited to a certain class or social group. This rise of capitalism in print media not only eliminated old concepts and laid new foundations but it did more than that. It resulted in the rise of many different social groups. They also became the center of ideological school of thoughts and gained political importance amongst the newly born national identities (Girling and Girling, 1997, p76). Science and Capitalism both played a significant role, in alliance in the emergence of nationalism. If the advancement in technology is looked at through the scope of science, it is science that resulted in the birth of printing press. The further breakthrough in science led to the invention of automated printing press which resulted in mass availability and distribution of the books. The fact that is more important is that this widespread production spread the knowledge and literacy amongst previously illiterate population sectors (Schubert, 2011, p33). This increased the literate and thus knowledgeable masses who could relate to each other through this breakthrough in print media. It was also science that made the possible production of Holy Books like Bible through mass production. These Holy Books which were divine scriptures of God to the people as understood by many. The religious doctrines were major part of life for many of the communities as it was their code of life, the guidance force. The print media with making these Holy Books widely available made the communities of the same religious doctrine knit closer together and form a feeling of nationalism based on their religious identities (Girling and Girling, 1997, p76). Capitalism although was still the major force as it was what let the science make these breakthrough in the field of technology. Although science introduced the concept of printing press it was the social system of capitalism which made it an easily accessible and widely available source for the masses of population that were illiterate. It was also result of capitalism that this publishing business became an income source for those who were literate. It also ensured that now that the power of elite language was broken the introduction and production of books was in language that even the peasant population could decipher or understand. This would create a national identity amongst them on the ground of common print media. An example of this was when Ex. Martin Luther translated a German version of Bible. This now made Bible available for the common masses of Germany. This resulted in identification of larger group of German population as a nation, thus giving them a sense of common belonging and national identity on basis of religion. Capitalism affected the growth of nationalism in major ways. The new reforms in the global scenario and ideology owed a lot of credit to the print capitalism. When Ex Martin Luther made the Bible in a form which was now understood by the wide majority of population and gave them access to it, it suddenly gave him a widely based fame. He could after that write anything and sell it to his newly created wide readership who would just purchase his other works now only on the basis of his name, which was now famous (Girling and Girling, 1997, p76). Capitalism proved to be the most successful ideology in bringing associated vernaculars together at a ground for masses to relate to. It assembled them on a common platform, it did the job better than any other movement. It went beyond the geographical boundaries and differences to make the vernaculars wide spread and become a common relation between people with different geographic positions yet same school of thoughts and ideologies they could relate to each other with (Cheah and Culler, 2003, p6). Print capitalism shifted the balance of power. It ensured that the elite once all powerful due to their ability to read were not the sovereign anymore. Print media distributed that power amongst the masses too, so the exclusivity of the upper class vanished at the hand of print capitalism and press. It ensured that it was the logic that ruled the mind of people and not the old baseless traditions. This also unchained the boundaries of work to a limited space or time. It allowed people to grow as literates and relatable communities which were no longer held under the caste system of elite since they had lost their extreme tilt in the balance of power in the literacy sector. Another factor that led to the downfall of the elite was also that the sacred language like Latin, Hebrew etc. were now held at the same esteem as the other national languages. These are the reasons why Anderson believed that the Capitalism is one of the major driving forces behind the birth of nationalism. That it was due to Capitalism that the print media and press were able to guide the masses to each other on their common values. It enlightens people to see what they had never imagined before. To become aware of people and nations similar to them they thought never existed. This is what makes Andersons point of link between Capitalism as basis of Nationalism so convincing. References Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. UK: Verso Cheah, P., Culler, J. (2003). Grounds of Comparison: Around the Work of Benedict Anderson. London: Routledge Gay, W., Alekseeva, T. (1996). Capitalism with a Human Face: The Quest for Middle Road in Russian Politics. UK: Rowman & Littlefield Girling, J., Girling, J.L. (1997). Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy. London: Routledge Hutchcroft, P. (1998). Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines. NJ: Cornell University Press Jessup, L. (2001). Antimodernist and Artistic Experience: Policing the Boundaries of Modernity. Canada: University of Toronto Press Schubert, B. (2011). American Journalism after ‘The Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. NJ: GRIN Verlag Wood, E. (1991). The Pristine Culture of Capitalism. NY: Verso Read More