A NEO-MARXIST APPROACH TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF NATIONALISM. DOOMED NATIONS AND DOOMED SCHEMES.

This article presents information related to neo-Marxist approach to the Sociology of Nationalism. The neo-Marxist "ideological community" in contemporary sociology' has lately defined Marxism's failure to approach nationalism as one of the blank spots in its main theoretical scheme, namely, historical materialism. One could almost say, considering how widespread and vigorous the discussions about this assumed failure are, that neo Marxists are examining the future response of historical materialism to modernity according to its theoretical capability to conceptualize and explain modern nationalism. "The explanatory theory expressed in the metaphor of base and superstructure may be somewhat further clarified, if the authors indicate briefly what it could mean in the relation to two important problems, religion and nationalism, or religious and national conflicts. . . Relatively little Marxist work has so far been done on either religion or nationalism." A majority of neo-Marxists seem to concede that Socialist Karl Marx and Marxists' writings about the nation, the nation state and nationalism were mainly of a tactical nature.