WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND INDUSTIALISATION?.
One of the original theories on the emergence of nationalism is perrennialism, which concentrates heavily on the history of nations, which are seen as stretching back for centuries. A.D. Smith states that the perrenialist perspective "regarded national sentiments and consciousness as fundamental elements of historical phenomena". Historians would recall such events as the activities of past leaders in antiquity and the medieval era, the decline and rebirth of their nation, and the glorious future, when highlighting the importance of history within the framework of nationalism. It saw the nation as a popular community that reflected the needs and the ideals of the people and saw the nation as a seamless whole with a single will and character. Ancestral ties and culture were of huge importance to the advocates of this theory.
MODERNISM.
The main challenge to perrenialism came in the form of modernism, which tended to concentrate upon the political aspects of nations and nationalism. The theorists of modernism included Deutsch, Foltz, Lerner, Bendix and Berner amongst others. These scholars often differed over the finer points of the theory, such as social communication and political religion, but agreed on the fundamental idea that the nation was a mass participant political culture.
They felt that nations and nationalism's were social constructs and cultural creations of modernity designed for an age of revolution and mass mobilisation, and central to the attempts to control these processes of social change.
Mass education, employment and citizenship are all seen as key factors within a nation, as they are modern conditions available to all, no longer only available to the elite. Such modern factors would increase political participation, and in turn help define the nation and nationalism. A.D. Smith states that only in a modern society was a high level of political participation by the masses made possible.
