Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community - Hardcover

Yack, Bernard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226944662 ISBN 13: 9780226944661

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2012

Synopsis

Nationalism is one of modern history’s great surprises. How is it that the nation, a relatively old form of community, has risen to such prominence in an era so strongly identified with the individual? Bernard Yack argues that it is the inadequacy of our understanding of community—and especially the moral psychology that animates it—that has made this question so difficult to answer.

Yack develops a broader and more flexible theory of community and shows how to use it in the study of nations and nationalism. What makes nationalism such a powerful and morally problematic force in our lives is the interplay of old feelings of communal loyalty and relatively new beliefs about popular sovereignty. By uncovering this fraught relationship, Yack moves our understanding of nationalism beyond the oft-rehearsed debate between primordialists and modernists, those who exaggerate our loss of individuality and those who underestimate the depth of communal attachments.

A brilliant and compelling book, Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community sets out a revisionist conception of nationalism that cannot be ignored.

About this title

About the Author:

Bernard Yack is the Lerman-Neubauer Professor of Democracy in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University. He is the author of several books, including The Problems of a Political Animal and Liberalism without Illusions.

Review:

“A long-awaited and important book on the ethics of nationalism. The content is original and insightful, sustained throughout by Bernard Yack’s addressing of issue after issue, both in theoretical and practical terms, and doing so with enormous background knowledge of political theorists, past and present, and—crucially—with a sense of social reality.”

(John A. Hall, McGill University)

"By conceiving of nations as species of communities and communities bonded by feelings of special mutual concern and loyalty, rather than abstract principles of equal concern and respect, Bernard Yack provides fresh and enduring insights into the power, problems and prospects of nationalism." (Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania)

"Nationalism has rarely drawn an attention from political theorists commensurate with its very large place in our political existence as we actually live it. Bernard Yack is determined to put this right. Yack’s thoughtfulness and clarity as well as his broad reading and acute historical sense, and especially his talent for redrawing received conceptual maps, are exactly what we need in order to give the politics of nationalism the more concerted theoretical attention it clearly deserves."
(Ronald Beiner, University of Toronto)

"Imagine the rarely found political philosopher who continually invites the facts of the paradoxes of our existence to properly complicate political philosophy, and you have fortunately found Bernard Yack. For Yack, to understand the moral psychology of the nation as a form of the social friendship of community, one must take into account the complexity that is expressed in the historical relation between nationality and the liberal tradition, including the dilemma of the moral value of what Yack calls “contingent communities.” In this measured, sensible, and convincing analysis of nationalism and its relation to popular sovereignty, one has a valuable contribution that moves our understanding of nationality and nationalism forward."   
(Steven Grosby, author of Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction)

"In this nuanced, sophisticated work, Bernard Yack directs his attention to the theoretical study of nationalism, arguing that the continued prevalence of nationalist loyalties constitutes a practical challenge to the alleged contemporary ascendancy of liberal values over primordial notions of communal collective being. This thoughtful work will greatly enrich readers' understanding of the political community, helping them to grasp the ways in which even the most abstract universal political principles are historically and culturally rooted. Highly recommended."
(Choice 2012-11-01)

 “The study of nationalism is addicted to dichotomies: civic versus ethnic, lateral versus demotic, political versus cultural, voluntaristic versus organic, and so forth. It is understandable. Considering a multifaceted phenomenon with so many diverse manifestations, managing the data by categorization is a natural human response. Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community by Bernard Yack should be adopted as one of the steps needed to cure us of this addiction.” (Perspectives on Politics 2015-04-06)

“This important book takes up some of the most significant explanatory and normative questions posed by the persistence of nationalism. . . . Normative political theorists will benefit especially form the breadth of Yack’s scholarship, his deeper than usual engagement with nationalism studies, and his innovative mapping of the conceptual terrain.” (Political Studies Review 2015-04-06)

“This is an excellent and far-reaching book, . . . [and it] fills an important gap in the political theory literature which has hitherto tended to ignore nationalism. . . . Yack’s highly plausible explanation for the recurring power of nationalism in the modern era answer a number of questions that continue to preoccupy scholars.” (Review of Politics 2015-04-06)

“Yack has written one of the most interesting and thoughtful books about nationalism that I have read in a long time. The book is a fine achievement, and it should be read by anybody who wants to understand the deeper origins of the ethical dilemmas that nationalism poses for us today.” (Political Theory 2015-04-06)

“An insightful book that prompts the reader to redefine some of the basic understandings that liberals use to argue against nationalism.” (Ethnic and Racial Studies 2015-04-06)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0226944662
• ISBN 13: 9780226944661
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344