Anthony D. Smith (1) (1939–2016)

This is useful critique of functionalist theories of large-scale change in human societies, particularly Parsons' work. But the author remains up to his neck in functionalist jargon throughout the book, which makes the argument unnecessarily complicated. It seems to me that an analysis of selected historical examples would be an easier route toward criticising functionalism. The author does refer to history occasionally, but he could have done it much more often.

Had to read this book for my Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict class... not sure if it is intended as a primer for newcomers to the subject, but it was an incredibly dense text. There were parts of it that I liked and that I thought were explained very clearly and effectively, but other parts of the text were difficult to grasp. I found myself having to reread sections over and over and over again, often after periods of a few hours, before I came to even a marginal understanding of what he show more was talking about. A lot of the book is in regards to the semantics of nation, nationalism, ethnies, etc. Smith is also clearly an outstanding academic and authority on the topic and made countless references to other scholars and writings on the subject, which were all entirely lost on me. Hoping that the class discussion will shed a bit more light on the text. Happily for me, all of my other classmates have thus far agreed that the text was a difficult one to read and that they too had to reread passages several times. show less

Why do people feel loyalty to their nation, as well as to their family, region, class and religion? When is a healthy sense of national identity transformed into a virulent nationalism? What are the ethnic roots of so many contemporary conflicts? Can nations be created 'by design' when colonial or multi-ethnic empires collapse?And what exactly is a nation?