States, nations, and societies: a case study of Valencia

Authors

Abstract

Political activity of contemporary western societies has been structured based on a definition of territorial units of action, which we call states. This western political structure has been legitimised by a link between each state to a collective owner of sovereignty, which we call a nation. The life of this society revolves around areas linked to different fields of community life, such as production, consumption, distribution of work, etc., including the discursive elements of these practices. Social practices take place within the complex interaction between all these fields of relations, which we call social structure. Each of these collective forms (states, nations and social structure) outline several geographic and social areas, to facilitate or hinder the construction of certain collective identities and, therefore, facilitate or hinder the production of certain collective actions. In the first part, this article opens a discussion on the relationship between the concepts of state, nation, and social structure. Later, the article endeavours to empirically apply the theoretical discussion to the Valencian case, to reveal the mechanisms underlying the construction of its collective identity.

Author Biography

  • Rafael Castelló‑Cogollos, University of Valencia
    Rafael Castelló‑Cogollos has a PhD in Sociology (University of Valencia) and is an Associate Professor in the
    Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Valencia (1989). He has worked specifically
    on issues related to national identity, linguistic practices, demographics, and political sociology with reference
    to Valencia and has participated in several collective projects analysing the Valencian social structure.

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Published

2017-12-19

Issue

Vol. 2 (2017): Annual Review 2

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE 1

License

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How to Cite

Castelló‑Cogollos, R. (2017) “States, nations, and societies: a case study of Valencia”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 2. Available at: https://revistadebats.net/article/view/1715 (Accessed: 3 November 2026).