British sociologist Anthony Smith (1939-2016) developed his approach to the study of ethnicity, which he called "ethnosymbolism". The study of myths, culture, religion, and language, which shape ethnicity and nation, is key to the theoretical approach to ethnosymbolism. In his book National Identity (1991), Smith unravels two concepts of the nation - the Western (civic) model and the ethnic model of the nation. The basis of the civic model of the nation consists of: "historic territory, legal-political community, legal-political equality of members, and common civic culture and ideology" (1991). The Western model of the nation is a product of a specific historical context in the countries of Northwestern Europe after the middle ages. The ethnic model of the nation includes common genealogy (kinship), people's mobilization, vernacular languages ​​, and common customs and traditions. This model of the nation developed, above all, in Eastern Europe and Asia.

However, these two models of the nation are only ideal types, so Smith notes that every nationalism always contains various degrees and forms of elements of both civic and ethnic concepts of a nation. Smith believes that these two opposing models of the nation have some common elements: 1) the territorial limitation of historical territory; 2) common mass culture, symbols, myths, and historical memories; 3) common rights and duties within the same legal system; 4) a single economy with spatial mobility of inhabitants. All of these elements form the basis of Smith's definition of a nation.

Smith also cites the external functions of the nation and nationalism, and they can be territorial, economic, and political. The territorial function of nations is to determine the social space of common life, limit the historical territory and provide "sacred centers", which will achieve the uniqueness of the "moral geography" of the nation. The economic function of the nation is to provide control over territorial resources and labor and to create the mobility of goods and labor. The political function of national identity is to support the state and its organs and to direct politics by national interests.

Authors: Smith, D. Anthony.

Books:

Smith. The Ethnic Origins of Nations (1986);

     -     National Identity (1991);

     -     Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era (1995);

     -     Nationalism and Modernism (1998);

     -     Myths and Memories of  the Nation (1999);

     -     The Nation in History (2000);

     -     Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (2003);

     -     The Antiquity of Nations (2004);

     -     Cultural Foundations of Nations: Hierarchy, Covenant and Republic (2008);

     -     Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A Cultural Approach (2009).