Methodological Nationalism

This entry explains the rise and main features of the so-called debate on methodological nationalism, which is defined as the equation between the historical formation of nation-states and the social sciences' conceptualization of society. It focuses on the three ways of this debate inside twentieth-century sociology: a first moment, in the mid-1970s, which coincided with the definitive expansion of nation-states throughout the world; a second moment, the turn of the new century, which echoed claims on the definitive decline of nation-states on the back of globalization, and a third, contemporary, moment that reassesses the transformations of nation-states in a post-global era.