Siniša Malešević, "Nationalism as a Way of Life: The Rise and Transformation of Modern Subjectivities" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

About this episode

Siniša Malešević discusses his book on the nonviolent aspects of nationalism and its impact on modern life.

While nationalism is a term that is often associated with instability, violence, extremism, terrorism, wars and even genocide, in fact most forms of nationalism are nonviolent. Beyond politics, it is a set of discourses and practices that shape economic, social, legal, and cultural life all over the globe. Siniša Malešević's Nationalism as a Way of Life: The Rise and Transformation of Modern Subjectivities (Cambridge University Press, 2025) explores the global rise and transformation of nationalism and analyses the organisational, ideological, and micro-interactional mechanisms that have made it the dominant way of life in the twenty-first century. In a series of case studies across time and space, the book zooms in on three key forms of lived experience: how nationalism operates as a multi-faceted meta-ideology, how national categories have become organisationally embedded in everyday practices and why nationalism has become the dominant form of modern subjectivity. The book is aimed at readers interested in understanding how nation-states and nationalisms have attained such influence in contemporary world. Siniša Malešević is Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology at the…

People in this episode

Guest: Siniša Malešević

Topics covered

• nationalism
• modern subjectivities
• sociology
• cultural life
• political discourse

Keywords

• nationalism
• modern subjectivities
• sociology
• cultural practices
• political ideology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cambridge University Press

Books & works: Nationalism as a Way of Life: The Rise and Transformation of Modern Subjectivities, Grounded Nationalisms, Why Humans Fight

Places: University College, Dublin, Paris

More episodes of Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast

• Kristen Abbott Bennett, "Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World" (Cambridge UP, 2025) · June 12, 2026 · 1h 4m
• Helping Companies Foster Agility · June 11, 2026 · 30 min
• Susanna Drake, "Veiling in the Late Antique World" (Cambridge UP, 2026) · June 8, 2026 · 1h 36m
• Chunmei Du, "Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians in the Aftermath of World War II" (Cambridge UP, 2025) · May 28, 2026 · 55 min
• Christopher S. Celenza, "The Evolution of Western Thought: Volume 1, From the Ancient World to Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2025) · May 27, 2026 · 1h 10m
• Kanika Singh, "The Story of a Sikh Museum: Heritage, Politics, Popular Culture" (Cambridge UP, 2025) · May 27, 2026 · 40 min