The Concept Of Banal Nationalism

The C at a timept Of Banal NationalismI go out begin this essay with introducing some sociologists put on on nationalism. Ronald Rogowski (1985 cited in Billig, 199543) viewed nationalism as the striving by members of nations for territorial autonomy, unity and independence. Anthony Giddens mentioned nationalism as a phenomenon which is primarily psychological (1985, p.116 see excessively Giddens, 1987, p.178 cited in Billig, 199544). According to his view, nationalism happens when normal animation is disturbed (Billig, 199544). He thought that nationalist feeling atomic number 18 not so much a part of regular day-to-day kind life (1985, p.215 cited in Billig, 199544), but draw to be fairly remote from most of the activities of day-to-day social life he thought that ordinary life is affected by nationalist sentiments only in fairly unusual and often relatively transitory conditions (p.218 cited in Billig, 199544). According to the writing of Michael Ignatieff, nationalism wa s being described as dangerous, stimulated and the property of others (Billig, 199546).There ar different real life examples that support the root word of timeworn nationalism According to the Day Survey, journalists and politicians unremarkably adopt the phrase the nation (Achard, 1993 cited in Billig, 1995116). It leads the readers to assume a story is happened in the homeland, unless the contrary is introduced in the topic or first paragraph of the story (Billig, 1995116). For the digest section of the British press, Billig mentions that the notion of the weather implies a national deixis, which is routinely repeatedthe reports tend to be similar and contain a map of Britain, which is not actually labeled as Britain the see of the national geography is presumed to be recognizable (Billig, 1995116-117). Also, the maps present the weather in Europe and the north Atlantic in Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and The Times always put the British Isles in a central kettle of fish (Billig, 1995117). Billig in like manner discovered that there was much more national intelligence operation show than international news being mentioned in the British press (Billig, 1995117). Fowler claimed this phenomenon as the homocentrism of the press, which is a preoccupation with countries, societies and individuals perceived to be like oneself (1991, p.16 cited in Billig, 1995118). By reading the British Press on a day-to-day basis people are being mindlessly reminded that Britain meant to be the centre of worlds nations to them which things happening locally within the Britain are important to them. The peoples sense of belonging to Britain may be unconsciously intensify through this daily practice of reading the British press. This example in line with the concept of banal nationalism which reveals that national individuation is nothing lifelike but is socially constructed and maintained through daily activities such as reading a newspaper.In addition to the ex ample of the British press, there was a research carried out on the Turkish Press that supports the judgment of banal nationalism thirteen out of thirty-eight Turkish newspapers used the Turkish stagger or slogans such as Turkey for the Turk, The new newspaper of new Turkey or the map of Turkey as their logos which directly or indirectly remind the Turkish people of their national identity (Yumul -zkirimli, 2000789). The unimaginative repetitive act of the Turkish newspapers which act as a continuous, albeit barely conscious, reminders of the nationhood they are equal to the unwave flag which unmindfully reminding the Turkish of their national identity and homeland (Yumul -zkirimli, 2000790). Seventy-six per cent of the Turkish newspapers divided the local news and the foreign news domestic news items are associateified under subject headings and do not carry a specific caption like Home news show (Yumul -zkirimli, 2000790). The Turkish Newspapers usually use an unlabelled ma p of Turkey to report the weather which reinforce and naturalize at the level of the unconscious the geographical shape of the homeland which the reader has encountered countless times in the course of his lifetime (Yumul -zkirimli, 2000790). We can also notice the banal nationalism through the sport news on the Turkish press. For instance, Fanatik, after reporting the victory of the 14-16 age-group team of Galatasaray over the Dutch Ajax quotes the managers of Galatasaray Let them learn from us, instead of us taking them as examples (Yumul -zkirimli, 2000800). This example of the Turkish press demonstrates that banal nationalism is taking place in different nations. The slogans, imbalance amount of local news and foreign news, style of weather reports, and satisfy of the sport news of the Turkish press creates a sense of us and them between our nation- Turkey and others- the foreign nations. The readers will be unconsciously reminded near their national identity- Turkish. This example once again reveals socially constructed characteristic of the national identity.Example that supports banal nationalism can also be found among the Scots Newspapers Daily degrade a Scottish tabloid, which its masthead was stated as Your Papers-Made in Scotland and also Scotlands Champion, which ensemble unambiguously fixes the centre of its social and spatial deictric and evokes the Record as the defender of the Scottish nation (Law, 2001306). There are far more examples that supporting the inclination of banal nationalism in our daily life. For instance, the content and style of TV proagrammes, content of TV news reports, the words used by the politicians, and the name of road signs, etc.Nation reveals the sense of a we locomotion together through time, acting collectively in our own space, with a common fate (Anderson, 1983 cited in Wetherell Potter, 1992141). The people of a nation contain an idea of national character, a set of personality traits and attitudes which people share in common, distinct from others, such as the Australians and British, and it constructs a framework of rituals, icons, anthems and flags (Wetherell Potter, 1992141). The national identity is thus a persons sense or feeling of belonging to a nation. Banal nationalism contributes to the understanding of the national identity in many ways. For instance, it challenges the social identity theory social identity theory suggests that conflict can occur where the ingroup has absolutely nothing to gain from competing with the outgroup Tajfel believes that having identification with a group will increase self-esteem and so national identity helps us to find meaning in our lives (Houghton, 2009171-172). Billig doesnt agree with this theory because he thinks that it fails to grasp how the social crime syndicate of national identity is actually constituted, and why it persists basic to Billigs argument is that such identities are not cognitive schemata, but rather patterns of pra ctice and habit construct into the material and social environment We do not just adopt such social categories because they fill certain psychological needs, we adapt to a social environment that renders these categories real and imperative (cf. Eagleton 1991 40 cited in Hearn, 2007660-661). Banal nationalism demonstrates that a person who adopts a national identity is through consistent development and seeing perhaps mindlessly and routinely that build his or her sense of belonging to a particular nation but not like what has been claimed by the social identity theory that a person adopts a particular national identity is because of the innate need psychologically.Another parcel of banal nationalism is that it challenges the concept of things about nationalism and national identity are far away from what ordinary people can reach or experience in a steady established Western nation. Instead, it reveals that many ordinary people are experiencing nationalism in their eeryday life but just in another form from what they expected.In addition, the theory challenges the supposed dichotomy between our civilised societies and their violent ones (Skey, 2009334). Local people within a nation usually deny they are nationalist or nationalism but point these things to the people in other nations because they usually see nationalism as something negative, dynamic, emotional which I mentioned in the previous part of the essay. However, the theory of banal nationalism reveals that nationalism is actually crucial for them to form and reform their national identities nowadays.Banal nationalism also draws our attention to the ongoing production of a hegemonic discourse whose power comes from being seen as natural, taken-for-granted, common sense (Sutherland, 2005 196 cited in Skey, 2009334) which in line with what Jan Penrose has claimed our adoption of nations as natural divisions of the global territory and population is essential to the maintenance of the existing geopo litical order (Penrose, 1994 161-81 cited in Skey, 2009334). The concept of banal nationalism once again reminds us that the divisions of the worlds nations are not happened naturally and neither the adoption of our national identities.However, on the other hand, there are different critiques to the idea of banal nationalism which may undermine the value of this theory Mirca Madianou (2005) claimed that take account of media theory which has long argued that audiences cannot simply be seen as either coherent or empty vessels that uncritically absorb the media messages that they encounter (cf Abercrombie and Longhurst, 1998 Gillespie, 2005 cited in Skey, 2009336). It challenges that people who receive the messages from the newspapers, TV programmes, TV news, etc are not homogenous in equipment casualty of mentality or perception toward different ideas. Different people will interpret and react differently when they receive the messages from the banal signifiers. For instance, peopl e from different social class and political background will think differently. The concept of banal nationalism ignores the complexity of the audiences within a nation.There is also a critique that claiming Billig has fall in to problems of assuming a settled and largely benign socio-political landscape even in what Billig has labelled as established, democratic nations(199593 cited in Skey, 2009337). Jackie Abell et al. challenge the idea that any modern states are stable in the sense of being unchallenged over time, or lacking in internal tensions or extraneous challenges is highly questionable and as such should be critically evaluated in terms of its ideological function (Abell et al., 2006 208 cited in Skey, 2009337). The political and social situation of a nation could be far unstable and worse than Billig has expected even in a developed nation.To conclude, the argument of this essay demonstrated the importance and contribution of the theory of banal nationalism for understa nding national identity in both the social and political aspects. However, in my opinion, its value might have been declining and advance to decline in the future. Apart from the reasons of the above critiques and limitation, to certain extent it is also because of the improvement of technologies and process of globalization. The relationship between the media and the nation is being made ever more complex through the widespread use of the internet (Eriksen, 2007 cited in Skey, 2009336), satellite broadcasting (Madianou, 2005 cited in Skey, 2009336), mobile phones etc It means that people in a nation have more choices to receive various information from other part of the world but not just from the national-operated media. Besides, globalization will also enhance the mobility, fluidity, and movement of people. These factors may increase the complexity of audiences in a nation since there are more different groups of people in terms of ethnicity, culture, gender, etc gather in diffe rent nations. These different groups of people may interpret and react differently from the banal signifiers and perceive themselves as having different national identities from the others.