Abstract
This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.
The paper begins by discussing certain difficulties with neoclassical, Weberian and convergence approaches to the relationship between culture and economy. It continues with an examination of the concept of culture and its relationship to the ideas of nationalism and ethnicity. This discussion then forms the basis for an examination of the different forms that ethnicity and nationalism have taken in Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe as these areas experienced and reacted to the penetration of capitalism, and to the subsequent development of fascism and socialism. Skeptical of attempts to formulate universal theories of culture, nationalism or ethnicity, the paper proposes instead an approach which recognizes and addresses the diversity in modes of cultural organization.