Social rank and nationalism: Some African data

The literature on nationalist movements in colonial countries has been quite ambiguous about the sources of support for such movements during the period of decolonization, On the one hand, it has been widely argued that nationalism was a "middle-class" phenomenon, meaning that it reflected the pressures of the higher-ranking, educated, urban populations. On the other hand, it has been noted that nationalist movements were in some sense "mass" movements both in support and in ideology, and that they were not usually welcomed very warmly by the highest-ranking indigenous groups. In addition to these seemingly contradictory propositions, it has been a matter of some debate how "national" nationalist movements usually were. That is to say, to what degree did ethnic-regional groups of varying power and prestige actually participate in supporting such movements? This article presents some empirical data bearing directly on these questions.