Walker Conner Ethnonationalism 1994

 Nationalism and patriotism refers to quite distinct loyalties. The former affiliate with
national groups and later affiliate with the state. In case of most people both nationalism
and patriotism is not a distinct phenomenon they tend to blur both loyalties into one.
Conner emphasize that they are not same and should not be confused as one. It is generally
observed that when two loyalties gets into conflict with one another people usually choose
nationalism as a more potent identity.
 In order to understand why nationalism supersede patriotism we need to take a closer look
at national consciousness and national sentiments. What is the nature of bond which unit
all and distinguish them from rest of humanity.
 Conner consider nation as a community of people who are characterize by a common
language, territory, religion etc. Conner believes it is much easier to understand nation
through such tangible criteria but in reality a nation is a complex phenomenon e.g it is
expected poles to speak polish language and follow Catholicism but there are many
Germans and Lithuanians who fulfill the same criteria but do not call themselves polish.
Due to this reason an objective criteria does not sufficiently explain whether a group is a
nation or not.
 In Conner’s view the essence of a nation is psychological bond which unit people and
create a subconscious conviction among people to differentiate between those who are
members pf nation and outsiders.
 Nation is usually not perceived as a kinship because usually it contains several genetic
strands. This line of reasoning ignores the fact it is not what is but what people perceive it
to be which influence the attitudes and behaviors. This subconscious belief in a group’s
separate origin and evolution is an important determinant of national psychology.
 Conner believes this psychological sense of kinship is evident to political leaders but it is
ignored by scholars of nationalism. At the core of ethno-psychology les a sense of shared
blood and nationalist leaders does not hesitate to appeal to it in their speeches and
proclamation. Conner suggest most fruitful area of research in nationalism is the emotional
psychological nature of nationalism.
 Conner defines nation as a group of people who feel they are ancestrally related. It is the
largest group who can command a person’s loyalty on the basis of kinship ties. This sense
 of unique descent will not be accorded with factual history most nation has varied ethnic
strands. It is not chorological history which is important rather it is the historical sentiments
which matters people have an intuitive conviction of their separate origins and evolution
from other nations.
 Conner recognize that this dichotomy in the studies of nationalism is acceptable to
psychologists but people trained in social science is uncomfortable with the with
confronting an nonrational phenomenon. This is the reason why they keep looking for
explanation in perspective to economic or other real forces. The explanation of nation
based on national consciousness is hard to comprehend Freud who studied the phenomenon
of “unconscious” accepted that emotional wellspring of national identity defied
articulation.
 Conner argues that national bond is subconscious and emotional rather than conscious and
rational in its inspiration. It can be analyzed but cannot be explained rationally.
 This non-rational aspect of a nation is triggered through national symbols like rising sun
or Britannia it send message to members of a nation without words. This response by
members cannot be explained rationally. This response can be achieved through music
which is reflecting a nation’s past. In addition to it familial metaphors like motherland,
fatherland, lands of our fathers and native land also can cause a nationalistic response.
 Conner believes that the national appeal is based on sense not reason which allow us to
understand he subconscious convictions people have for their nation. The way they respond
to kinship ties like brother, sister, mother forefathers.
 Rational explanation will focus on economic deprivation, elite ambition, rational choice
theory, how to convert low subordinate culture into high culture. This approach will fail to
portray the emotional depth of national identity like hate-love continuum, sacrifices in the
name of nation.
Ethno-symbolist approach, while agreeing on the stand that nations and nationalisms are
constructed entities, criticizes the modernist rejection of any primordial ties to this kind of
consciousness. Their main argument is that history should not be disregarded in the studies of
nation and nationalism, relevance and impact of previous sense of belongings and modern nation
should be taken into consideration together.99 Nation is a historical phenomenon which has an
ethnic basis. The origins of nations should not be analyzed within the limits of a particular period
of time in history, ignoring previous ethnic ties and sentiments. Since the historical ties of human
groupings provide cultural background for the nation formation processes, they are significant for
the construction of national consciousness and nationalism.