The Nation and the Promise of Friendship

Description

When strangers meet in social clubs, watch reality television, or interact on Facebook, they contribute to the social glue of mass society—not because they promote civic engagement or democracy, but because they enact the sacred promise of friendship. Where most theories of nationalism focus on issues of collective identity formation, Kaplan’s novel framework turns attention to compatriots’ experience of solidarity and how it builds on interpersonal ties and performances of public intimacy. Combining critical analyses of contemporary theories of nationalism, civil society, and politics of friendship with in-depth empirical case studies of social club sociability, Kaplan ultimately shows that strangers-turned-friends acquire symbolic, male-centered meaning and generate feelings of national solidarity. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 1-19 Front Matter ....Pages 21-21 Friendship and Solidarity: The Road Not Taken in the Study of National Attachment (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 23-41 Social Club Sociability (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 43-69 Public and Collective Intimacy (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 71-91 The Meta-Narrative of Strangers-Turned-Friends (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 93-107 Can We Really Distinguish Between Civic and National Solidarity? (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 109-120 Front Matter ....Pages 121-121 Sacred Brotherhood: Freemasonry and Civic-National Sociability (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 123-148 Big Brother: Viewers Turned Accomplices on Reality TV (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 149-181 Absent Brother: Military Friendship and Commemoration (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 183-204 Front Matter ....Pages 205-205 Toward a Research Program for Studying National Solidarity (Danny Kaplan)....Pages 207-220 Back Matter ....Pages 221-227