Nationalism: Sociology and Larger National family Essay

Submitted By odinakasas
Words: 821
Pages: 4

First of all to make my argument concise, I would like to state the definition of nationalism. So what is nationalism? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is loyalty and devotion to a nation especially, a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations. Now to answer the question “is nationalism a progressive force or dangerous phenomenon?” in my opinion i believe nationalism is a dangerous phenomenon because of the following reasons which i would further explain. Conformity, people behaving according to societal norms, beliefs and values even if it goes against their own beliefs. Limitation of growth economically and socially. Loss of identity and also identity used as a weapon against other people. It can also make the citizens of that nation become very ignorant and other perilous factors like manipulation and generalization can arise from ignorance. A lot of things, like a minority group or immigrants in a nationalist country losing their language which is a big part of anyones culture can be as a result of assimilation, which is people of different backgrounds coming to see themselves as part of a larger national family. All because of conformity they do not want to be seen as outsiders or aliens. Conformity does away with differences, nobody has the avenue to be different, discounting the idea of differences and anything else that that negates from the general idea of how to be or live in that nation. A big example that i believe is common, how homosexuals or transgenders are seen or how people act towards them. The social norm is for an individual to be heterosexual or to stick with the sex you were born with, but when some people go against those social norms they are seen as evil or mentally ill and in some nations like Saudi Arabia they can be killed or given a lengthy jail sentencing in some other countries. Nationalism does not allow individuals to be individuals and that is risky because you might repress a great individual from benefitting the world. Like Emerson Ralph said “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Nationalism leads to the limitation of growth socially and economically because nationalists refuse to change or adapt to other ways of doing things probably because of a superiority complex. Any ideas of change would be shut down so they would not be able to develop new infrastructure, trading internationally is extremely limited, most of the products are domestic, which might leave the nations economy is shambles and the people starving to death. North Korea is an example. Production relies heavily on the agricultural sector yet the people barely have food, although it is a centrally planned system, the role of market allocation is limited. North Korea remains as one of the world's poorest and least developed countries. For any country to be successful it needs to be able to grow but as far as nationalism plays a large part in that nation its