Nationalism as a Way of Life

Siniša Malešević’s Nationalism as a Way of Life analyzes the global rise and transformation of nationalism, arguing it operates as both a multi-faceted meta-ideology and an embedded organizational practice shaping everyday life.

Drawing on comparative historical sociology and case studies across time and space, the book traces how national categories became normalized and how nationalism became the dominant modern subjectivity.

It examines the ideological penetration of societies, the embedding of national categories in institutions, and the micro-interactional processes that reproduce national belonging.

Malešević situates his approach between structuralist and agency-focused perspectives, offering an inductive middle-range theory applied to soldiers, diasporas, religion, and conspiracy narratives.

The work is aimed at scholars and readers seeking a comprehensive account of why nation-states and nationalisms exert such pervasive influence in the contemporary world.