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“Methodological Nationalism“ vs “Methodological Civilizationalism“: Essentialization Beyond the Nation-State

The last few decades have been marked by intensified debate on methodological nationalism in the social sciences. Since it first appeared in the 1970s (Martins, 1974), criticism of the tendency towards the naturalization and reification of the nation-state has become an important feature of research on migration, transnationalism, social space, ethnic conflict, and more. Scholars are becoming increasingly aware of the inadequacy of container concepts of society that equate the nation-state with societal borders and processes. Awareness of the problem with “zombie categories” (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2001) has given way to a wave of criticism on such concepts as “methodological ethnicism”, “groupism”, “methodological statism” and “territorialism”. However, recognising and avoiding one type of essentialisation does not preclude the emergence of other forms of simplification and generalisation. The new term – methodological civilizationalism – has emerged as a part of criticism of the “clash of civilizations narrative” (Boticci and Challand, 2012). Methodological civilizationalism can be identified as a form of essentialisation of collective entities, institutions and groups of states as unified and real geo-political agents. It provides a non-reflexive description and explanation of societal conflicts as cultural conflicts within, across and beyond boundaries of nation-states. For this presentation, we will examine the similarities and differences between methodological nationalism and methodological civilizationalism.

methodological nationalism; methodological civilizationalism; essentialisation

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