Summary of Imagined Communities

"Imagined Communities" by Benedict Anderson is a seminal study of nationalism, focusing on the definition of nationality as an imagined community. Anderson argues that nationalism is a socially constructed concept that unites people of differing backgrounds through an exclusive group identity, and that, without this constructed ‘imagined’ group identity, nations would disintegrate. He focuses on the invention of various national symbols and language as the tools that create a sense of belonging in people, and how modern nations have been formed on the basis of their collective shared imagined identity. Anderson traces the history of nation-states and their formation from the 18th century to the present day, seeking to explain the role of language and religion in engineering a national spirit, and how ethnic, cultural, and class differences have been erased by an overarching identity. The book seeks to understand how, why, and when truly imagined communities cohere and hold together, with particular reference to colonial nations and nations of modernity. Ultimately, Anderson argues that nationalism is an imagined political concept, and that it is this concept that has been used to define and create nations around the world.