What are modernisation and national identity?
Modernisation is the move from a mostly farming, local society to an industrial, urban one with schools for all, fast communication and a strong state. It started in western Europe and spread across the world during the 19th and 20th centuries.
National identity is a shared feeling that "we" belong to one people with a common language, history, symbols and future. It is not natural from birth. It has to be built, and modernisation gave the tools: printing, schools, newspapers, railways and armies.
In the lesson National movements you see how nations asked for self-rule. Here we look at the culture side: the ideas, the policies and the identities.
Cultural currents: Enlightenment, Romanticism, modernisers and traditionalists
A cultural current is a wave of ideas that many writers, artists and thinkers share.
- Enlightenment (18th century): trust in reason, science, schooling for everyone, and equal rights. It gave modernisers their goals.
- Romanticism (early 19th century): love of feelings, nature, folk songs, old legends and the "spirit of the people". Writers collected folk tales and songs and treated the national language as a treasure. Examples: the Grimm brothers' fairy tales (1812) and the Finnish epic Kalevala, put together from folk poems by Elias Lönnrot (first version 1835).
- Liberal and national ideas: a nation should rule itself and its citizens should have rights.
- Modernism (late 19th and 20th century): new styles in art, literature, music and architecture that broke with old forms.
In almost every country people split into two groups: modernisers, who wanted to copy the schools, laws and industry of more advanced states, and traditionalists, who wanted to protect old values, religion and village life. Most societies ended up with a blend of borrowed and local things, just like the blue and orange blocks in the 3D.
Cultural policies: how states shape culture
A cultural policy is what a government does on purpose to shape language, education, arts and memory. Common tools:
- Standard language and alphabet. One written form for all regions. In 1928 Turkey moved to the Latin alphabet to raise reading rates; in the mid-1800s the Romanian lands also moved from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.
- Schools. Japan's 1872 education order set up schooling for all children. Schools teach one language, one history and one set of heroes.
- Academies, libraries, museums, theatres. Learned societies write dictionaries and grammars (the Romanian Academy began in the 1860s; the Grimm dictionary began in 1838). Museums show "our" objects and national theatres perform "our" plays.
- Symbols and calendar. Flags, anthems, national holidays and statues.
- Press and media. Newspapers, later radio and television.
Cultural policy can include people (everyone gets school and a voice) or exclude them (a minority language banned, or a state that uses censorship and propaganda to control what people think). Always ask: who benefits, and who is left out?
National and European identities
Many nations did not see themselves as alone. In the 1800s and 1900s several societies at the edge of Europe wanted to be seen as full members of European civilisation, so they borrowed European laws, schools and art while also stressing their own folk culture. After the Second World War, Europeans built shared institutions: the Council of Europe (1949), the European Communities (1957) and the European Union (1993).
So a person today can have layered identities: local (my town), regional, national and European (and even global). These layers do not cancel each other. A European identity is usually built on top of national identity, with shared values such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law, plus shared history, travel, study and trade.
Debates continue: some people feel European identity enriches the nation; others worry it weakens it. A fair view looks at both.
Culture abroad: communities beyond the borders
When people move abroad for work, study or safety, they form a diaspora. They carry language, food, festivals and stories into new places and also bring new ideas home.
- Artists and scholars abroad can make the nation's culture famous. For example, the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși (Romanian, from 1904 mostly in Paris) and the composer George Enescu used Romanian folk themes in work seen across Europe.
- Students and workers abroad bring back new ideas. Mohandas Gandhi, living in South Africa from 1893 to 1914, developed methods of peaceful protest that he later used in India.
- Communities abroad open schools, churches, temples, cultural clubs and newspapers in their language.
Many states now have policies for citizens abroad: cultural institutes, language classes, scholarships, easy visits, sometimes the right to vote or dual citizenship. Culture thus crosses borders in both directions.
A cause-and-effect chain
- Printing and railways spread (cause).
- More newspapers and books are read in a common written language (effect).
- People in far places feel they share one language and stories (effect).
- The state backs it with schools, museums and symbols (policy).
- A national identity is built; later it joins wider European ones (result).
Try it: map your own layers
In the 3D: go to the last step and slide the blocks from all-own to all-borrowed. Which extreme looks unreal? Why does every real culture sit somewhere in the middle?
At home or in class: draw three circles inside each other: me and my town, my nation, the wider world or Europe. Write in each circle two things that belong to it (a food, a song, a sport, a word). Then ask an older relative which of these things were different when they were young. Find one thing that came from abroad and one that was kept from the past.
Key formulas and definitions
- Modernisation = schools + printing + railways + a stronger state
- Cultural policy = standard language + schools + academies, museums, theatres + symbols + media
- Cultural currents: Enlightenment (reason) → Romanticism (folk spirit) → modernism (new forms)
- Layered identity = local + regional + national + European (they add, they do not cancel)
- Diaspora = people living outside their homeland who keep cultural links
Worked examples
1. Why did 19th-century states work to create a standard written language?
People in different regions spoke different dialects. A standard written language let newspapers, schools, laws and the army work for all of them, and made people feel they belonged to one community.
2. How did Romanticism help nation-building? Give an example.
Romantic writers valued folk songs and legends as the soul of a people, so they collected and published them. The Grimm brothers' fairy tales (1812) and the Finnish Kalevala (compiled by Lönnrot, 1835) showed people a shared tradition and made the national language prestigious.
3. Name one cultural policy from Japan and one from Turkey and say what they had in common.
Japan set up schooling for all children (1872). Turkey adopted the Latin alphabet (1928). Both used schooling and writing to spread literacy and bind people into one modern nation. Both were part of wider modernisation.
4. Explain how a person can feel both national and European.
Identities have layers. A person can love their national language and traditions and also share European values such as human rights and democracy, and use European travel, study and trade. One layer sits on another; they need not compete.
5. Describe the difference between modernisers and traditionalists.
Modernisers wanted to copy new laws, schools and industry from advanced states and sometimes weaken old customs. Traditionalists wanted to protect religion, village life and old values. Most societies mixed both.
6. How can culture policy exclude people? Give one example.
If the state allows only one language in schools and offices and bans minority languages, speakers of those languages are pushed out. States that use censorship also exclude voices that disagree.
7. Give two ways citizens abroad can influence their home culture.
Artists and scholars abroad make home culture known (for example Brâncuși and Enescu in Paris). Students and workers bring back new ideas (Gandhi's years in South Africa shaped his later methods in India). Communities also keep language and festivals alive.
Common mistakes
- Thinking nations are natural and have always existed. They are built, with schools, language and symbols.
- Saying modernisation means copying the West completely. Every society mixes borrowed and local things.
- Thinking European identity replaces national identity. It is usually an extra layer.
- Treating cultural policy as always good or always bad. It can include or exclude, so look at who gains and who loses.