Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: What is a Nation?
Position‹2 of 4›: Nations are modern creations

This position holds that nations are modern creations. It argues they only emerged from the late eighteenth century amid sweeping political, social, and economic change, driven by Enlightenment ideas, industrialisation, and the rise of print capitalism rather than ancient roots.

Supporting arguments · 3

Industrialisation created nations
The emergence of capitalism transformed society by promoting linguistic and cultural standardisation within distinct territorial spheres, ushering in the age of nations.
Enlightenment ideas created nations
The intellectual revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries created a new political ideology of nationalism centred on the creation of nation-states.
Print capitalism created nations