Marxism and the Evolution of National Identity: A Comparative Study of National Communities in Modern Societies

Abstract

National identity has not faded quietly with modernization; if anything, it tends to resurface precisely when societies undergo rapid economic and social reorganization. This article revisits that puzzle through a Marxist—more precisely, a historical-materialist—analytical stance. Rather than viewing national belonging as an inherited cultural “substance,” the study treats it as a durable yet revisable form of social imagination that takes shape where material change, stratification, and institutional narration intersect. Using a comparative historical design, the article examines three deliberately anonymized contexts: Case A, where a capable state coordinates integrative identity narratives during long-term market expansion; Case B, where a prior overarching identity weakens and a renewed national frame grows amid abrupt systemic transition; and Case C, where a supranational integration project advances economically yet struggles to cultivate deep everyday attachment. Across the three cases, national identity is shown to be neither purely cultural nor mechanically economic. It is better understood as a negotiated settlement—often unstable—between shifting life chances, evolving class positions, and the institutions that translate these shifts into shared stories. The analysis suggests that historical materialism remains useful for explaining why identity projects gain traction at certain moments, while also underscoring the contingent, path-dependent ways in which identity is narrated, contested, and normalized.