Banal Nationalism for Babies: The Early Transmission of National Habitus to Children in the Family

Abstract

This chapter offers an insight on the persistence of nationalism in contemporary France and elsewhere. It does so by addressing specifically the part families play in the early transmission of national habitus. The approach bridges the theoretical perspectives of Michael Billig and Norbert Elias, as it deepens Billig’s theorisation of banal nationalism through Eliasian historical sociology. The authors therefore use Elias’s political sociology in order to critically analyse the formation of national imaginaries as well as his writings that focus on processes of individualisation, socialisation and family relationships. This will constitute the theoretical base for understanding the ‘drag effect’ of the national habitus. Empirically, the chapter will share the results of a preliminary investigation in the region of New Aquitaine, France, on the transmission of national belonging among families using projective methods and repeated interviews with parents and their six-year-old child.