ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to sketch out a theoretical framework for viewing ethnolinguistic movements, particularly those in Western Europe and to deals with one case study, that of the Frisians in the Netherlands. Sociologists often use three concentric contexts for understanding social organization among humans: macro-, meso- or intermediate, and micro. The first is the level of social classes and ethnic groups within the nation-state; the second is the level of institutions; and the third is that of the household. Manifest or latent, a “theory of the state” is always necessary for explaining nationalism and its corroborative socioeconomic and ethnolinguistic stratificational and institutional arrangements, be it the nationalism of a majority, that is, of a dominant group that has traditionally controlled the nation-state, or of a rising minority. The supreme symbol of unity often becomes a traditionally suppressed native language, which cuts across internal divisions, vested interests, and feelings of inferiority.
