Imagined communities

Like the nuclear family, the community could not completely disappear from our world without any
emotional replacement. Markets and states today provide most of the material needs once provided
by communities, but they also supply tribal bonds.
Markets and states do so by fostering ‘imagined communities’ that contain millions of strangers,
and which are tailored to national and commercial needs. An imagined community is a community of 5
people who don’t really know each other, but imagine that they do. Such communities are not a
novel invention. Kingdoms, empires and churches functioned for millennia as imagined communities.
In ancient China, tens of millions of people saw themselves as members of a single family, with the
emperor as its father. In the Middle Ages, millions of devout Muslims imagined that they were
brothers and sisters in the great community of Islam. Yet throughout history, such imagined 10
communities played second fiddle to intimate communities of several dozen people who knew each
other well. The intimate communities fulfilled the emotional needs of their members and were
essential for everyone’s survival and welfare. In the last two centuries, the intimate communities
have withered, leaving imagined communities to fill the emotional vacuum.
The two most important examples for the rise of such imagined communities are the nation and 15
the consumer tribe. The nation is the imagined community of the state. The consumer tribe is the
imagined community of the market. Both are imagined communities because it is impossible for all
customers in a market or for all members of a nation really to know one another the way villagers
knew one another in the past. No German can know the other 80 million members of the German
nation, or the other 500 million customers inhabiting the European Common Market (which 20
evolved first into the European Community and finally became the European Union).
Consumerism and nationalism work extra hours to make us imagine that millions of strangers
belong to the same community as ourselves, that we all have a common past, common interests
and a common future. This isn’t a lie. It’s imagination. Like money, limited liability companies and
human rights, nations and consumer tribes are inter-subjective realities. They exist only in our 25
collective imagination, yet their power is immense. As long as millions of Germans believe in the
existence of a German nation, get excited at the sight of German national symbols, retell German
national myths, and are willing to sacrifice money, time and limbs for the German nation,
Germany will remain one of the strongest powers in the world.

Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari (2014)

© David Ripley, Inthinking

www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk
Exploring the ideas
The argument in the text is largely constructed on the basis of pairs of ideas: words and phrases which are
deliberately linked in order to compare or contrast. The following tasks ask you to identify such pairs, and to
explore their meaning in detail.

1. Consider the phrase “tribal bonds” (l.3) – which other phrase later in the text picks up on this idea?

................................................................

> Make notes about the meaning of the word ‘tribe’.

2. The term ‘imagined community’ is introduced in l.5 – which other similar-structured term occurs in the
same paragraph?

...............................................................

> Make notes about how you interpret the two terms.

3. Consider the contrast between ‘lie’ and ‘imagination’ (l.24). Make notes about the differences between
the various meanings of these two terms.

4. The term ‘nation’ is explained through the detailed example of Germany (ll.26-29). What detailed example
would you choose to explain, in the same way, the term ‘consumer tribe’? Make notes developing your
example.

© David Ripley, Inthinking

www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk
Detailed reading
For each of the words or phrases below, choose the option whose meaning fits best to the context.
1. “tailored" (l.5)
A styled
B adapted
C restricted
D cut down

2. “novel” (l.7)
A surprising
B historical
C recent
D brand new

3. “played second fiddle to” (l.11)

A provided cooperation for
B were a contrast to
C were less important than
D were more important than

4. “withered” (l.14)
A shrunk
B aged
C sickened
D died

5. “vacuum” (l.14)
A direction
B gap
C situation
D room

Referencing
To what do each of the following words refer? Write in each space a short phrase quoted from the text.

“so” (l.4) > ...............................................................

“such” (l.10) > two phrases: (i) (where) ..........................................; (ii) (when) .........................................

“both” (l.17) > (i) .........................................................; (ii) ........................................................

“this” (l.24) > ..........................................................................................................................................

© David Ripley, Inthinking

www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk