![]() ![]() These ancient communities were made up of millions of people from different cultures, speakersDifferent languages, cohesive solely around a religious idea and a system of scripture (usually written in a language foreign to them). An imagined community provides a horizontal relationship between members that undercuts the vertical relationships generated by imbalances in wealth and power. ![]() ![]() According to Anderson, a nation and a nation-state are contemporary examples of imaginary communities, which throughout history have replaced other imaginary communities, such as the great believing communities of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Nationalism, argues Anderson, is a story of national origins that creates imagined community amongst the citizens of the modern state. The consciousness of the community is so strong in these groups that it has the power to take their men to war on distant battlefields and die for them, as if it were a matter of protecting their private home and family. The term " imagined community" is used by Anderson to describe large groups of people, united around a unifying idea that makes them function as a community, although in practice the connection and similarity between the individuals that make them up, and groups of individuals in the content, are minimal or non-existent. ![]()
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