Belonging

Montserrat Guibernau is Professor of Politics at Queen Mary, University of London, where she works on national and ethnic diversity.

• Acknowledgements viiiIntroduction 1Outline of the book 21 Identity as a Political Instrument 7Conflicting identities 7The role of boundaries 10Traditional versus modern societies 15The construction and meaning of identity 16The consequences of globalization 19Summary 242 Belonging by Choice 26Belonging and emotion 26The conditions of belonging 32Collective identity and the power of symbols 35Belonging to the nation 43Collective identity and political mobilization 44Summary 483 Freedom and Constraint 50Immanuel Kant 51Michel Foucault 55Erich Fromm 58The freedom to belong 61Alienation, fear of irrelevance and group membership 64Escaping into new dependencies: addiction 65Summary 694 The New Radical Right and the Resurgence of Authoritarian Politics 71The rise of authoritarianism 71The new radical right versus traditional fascism 75Who votes for the new radical right? 79‘White resistance’ as a transnational movement 80The rise of ethno-politics 83On racism 84The nation: conflicting views 86From biological to cultural exclusion 88Summary 905 The Rituals of Belonging 92The power of symbols 92The meaning of symbols 97Ritual and power 98Ritual and emotions 103Rituals of ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ 105Rites of belonging in modern society 108Rites of passage 110‘Exclusive’ and ‘inclusive’ groups and associations 112Summary 1166 Loyalty, Citizenship and the Nation 118On loyalty 118Three types of loyalty 120Loyalty, the nation and nationalism 123National loyalty in peacetime and wartime 128Loyalty programmes in the USA 130Scapegoating and dissent 134Freedom versus conformity 135‘Authoritarian’ versus ‘democratic’ loyalty 137The great challenge: turning immigrants into Americans 140Summary 1427 Emotion and Political Mobilization 144Emotion and social action 144Emotion and the rational imperatives of market capitalism 147‘Taming’ emotion and the construction of ‘healing spaces’ 153Emotion and political mobilization 154Summary 170Conclusion 172Notes 181Bibliography 200Index 211

"A well-written and wide-ranging overview of many important ideas about belonging."Journal of Social Policy"A thought-provoking book on fundamentally important issues."Sociology"A rich, sound and consistent book within the classical political science tradition."Journal of Catalan Intellectual History"In Belonging Professor Guibernau skilfully deconstructs the many differing elements that determine the individual's identity. In a world where conflicting trends, tendencies and tensions compete to define us, it is a timely analysis of the increasing complexities influencing much of the contemporary human predicament. It will become a standard work on the subject."Lord Smith of Clifton"Montserrat Guibernau reformulates the concept of belonging through an in-depth exploration of mechanisms of solidarity and psychological connections between citizens and communities. The author takes us beyond debates on national identity and nationalism by deepening our understanding of loyalty, freedom and trust - three dimensions that have been neglected for too long by social scientists and political authorities - in divided polities. This book is theorerically rich and highly accessible."Alain Gagnon, Université du Québec à Montréal"How to define and interpret the relationship between the individual and community? Guibernau demonstrates possibilities of new understanding of this almost secular problem by introducing the newly defined term belonging in mutual tension with identification and nationalism. Theoretical reflections are connected with pressing political problems of our times. This approach is rich on inspiration and intellectual challenge for all social sciences."Miroslav Hroch, Charles University, Prague