ABSTRACT
This chapter explains an inquiry into cultural identity and its political and social consequences. Communal identities result in ethnic groups, nations, religious sects or world religions when people act on the basis of joining these groups. Other types of community include, for example, new social movements as well as gays, lesbians, environmentalists and vegetarians. The strong increase in the relevance of communities, together with migration, has created multi-cultural societies almost everywhere. As authors enter the twenty-first century it seems as if communities could become just as important as associations, using Ferdinand Tonnies' 1887 classical distinction between culture-based and interest-based groups. Communal politics is becoming legitimate in rich and poor countries, as communities are increasingly recognized as valid groups. Civilization is the broader cultural concept linked especially to the world religions, whereas nation is the more narrow cultural concept. Thus, a civilization could comprise several nations, which in turn could consist of various ethnic groups.
