Ethnos and Society: Review

A few months ago, Arktos released a new book by the famous Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin called Ethnos and Society. Whereas his famous work, The Fourth Political Theory, is a political manifesto for a return to tradition and a merciless fight against modernity and it’s last surviving ideological offspring, Liberalism, Ethnos and Society represents professor Dugin's sociological work, or to be more precise his ethnosociological research. But what is ethnosciology actually? Whereas modern sociology concerns itself with modern society and takes the bourgeois individual and nation state as norm, whereas premodern communities are treated as “backward” and “savage”, ethnosociology goes the other way round. It concerns itself manly with the ethnos (tribal community) as first form of human organization and then concerns itself with its more complex derivations. When the Viennese Richard Thurnwald founded this discipline in the beginning of the 20th century, it was his aim to better understand social history and the differences between ancient tribes and modern society. 

 

According to Dugin, the possible, not teleological, development of human communities goes as the follows: The first derivate of ethnos is the narod (folk society), followed by the nation, left beside by civil society, then  transforming into global society and finally ending in post society. As one of the most important events he regards the transformation from the narod to the nation, since it also signifies the transition from premodern community (according to Ferdinand Tönnies) to the modern state. It means the destruction of not only the traditional Indo-European hierarchy among the castes of the priests, warriors and peasants, but also of the community’s integral wholeness. 

 

A society in contrast to community consists only of individuals with their own economic interests, common culture, tradition and religion are attacked in the name of enlightenment. Herein may lie one of the most controversial points of Dugin's book: In his eyes the nation state is mere instrument of the enlightened bourgeoisie to better follow their economic goals. Nationalism is herein only a mean to prevent the individualistic society from collapse, until it’s individuals are enlightened enough to leave the nation state behind as the artificial construct it is and integrate all nations into a global civil society. 

 

Whereas the transition from the nation to civil society demands the deconstruction of the nation, global society only means the worldwide success of this process and the end of history. In his opinion, institutions like the European Union are first examples of such a global society. After the end of all collective identities, the post-modern society would finally signalize the breakdown of the individual and it’s implosion: The revolt of the eyes against the dictatorship of the brain, the end of death in transhumanist concepts of human brains connected to computers and robots.     

 

The most important aspect of Dugin's book is the point, that there’s no such thing possible as a tamed progression of modernity like in Faye’s concept of Archeofuturism. If you want the outmost pleasure of modernity, please keep in mind that this means the loss of all tradition and connection to your ancestors and even your own humanness. If you decide yourself for a traditional community, you have to fight modern society and degeneracy in all forms.  

 

Where right-wing liberals and conservatives preach “you can’t do anything against the progression of modernity, it’s only possible to gradually influence the process”, Alexander Dugins Ethnos and Society tells you the exact opposite: When one realizes the fact, that there are still ethnic societies around this planet in the Amazon, that the Muslim communities of the Middle East still live in the community of their narod, that in Russia and India the modern nation state is just a thin layer, then it’s obvious that the decay of modernity is just a possibility and not our destiny. If we want to continue the suicide of Europe and follow modernity to its conclusion and change nothing. But if we want to restore our tradition and ensure the existence of our people, we have to radically change our habits, morals and our way of life. 

  

Whereas The Fourth Political Theory tells us to return to pre-modernity in order to protect our Dasein (narod), Ethnos and Society shows us how the preconditions for a return to pre-modernity work. Therefore, Ethnos and Society, is not only important to better understand the work of professor Dugin, but also in order to fight post-modernity to the last blood. If one doesn’t let oneself be scared off by the theoretical depth of this book, it’ll greatly improve one’s understanding of the current processes of globalization, decadence and the Great Replacement. This book is exactly what all the right-wing populist parties in Europe would need in order to change their policies of fake populism and realize what is really necessary to revive European identity. 

 

I can recommend this book to everyone willing to fight for the return of tradition and against post-modernity.