Why Nationalism in Eastern Europe?

Abstract

Although microsociological theories are not directly testable with the empirical evidence at our disposal, there are other ways to take advantage of their insights. Their assertion is that social action must in some way lead to individual satisfaction. In this chapter, we pose the question of why the thought of joining or supporting exactly a national movement should be appealing exactly to the East European citizen of the late 20th century, and we answer it in terms of the individual’s situation and considerations as theorized in Chapter 2.