The Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawm Summary and Analysis Part-1

Eric Hobsbawm is a British Marxist historian. His writings combine the breadth of vision with interesting details. His major works are Primitive Rebels (1959), The Age of Revolution (1962), Labouring Men (1964), and Industry and Empire (1968). He has collaborated with Terence Ranger to edit the work The Invention of Tradition (1983) which offers significant insights into the making of traditions in modern society. This is an outline of the introductory essay by Hobsbawm detailing the origin, development and purpose of inventing tradition.

Hobsbawm begins the essay by pointing at the recent origin of the pageantry of British monarchy in its public ceremonial manifestations. This tradition is maintained in such a way that it connects the present monarch with the earliest of the dynasty. Though these traditions may appear or claim to appear old, most of them are quite recent in origin (in this case, the present form of the ceremonial manifestation of British monarch is a product of late 19^th and 20^th century) and sometimes invented. In this introductory article, Hobsbawm discusses issues such as the invention, appearance and establishment of tradition.

The term ‘Invented tradition’ includes both traditions actually invented, constructed and formally instituted and those emerging in a less easily traceable manner within a brief and dateable period and establishing themselves with great rapidity. The author focuses on the appearance and establishment of invented traditions than of their chances of survival. According to him, an invented tradition ‘is a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour, by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past’. It is common that these traditions normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past. Hobsbawm illustrates this point by citing the deliberate choice of a gothic style for the 19^th century rebuilding of the British Parliament. Bernard S. Cohn cites the example of the introduction of durbars in colonial India to establish British authority by creating a replica of Mughal durbars. Invented traditions imply continuity with the past and this is largely artificially created.

Then the author examines the reasons for the emergence of invented traditions. He states that these traditions are responses to new situations which take references to old situations; otherwise they establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition. According to the author, invented traditions are born out of the attempts to structure at least some parts of social life as unchanging and invariant within the constant change and innovation of the modern world.

The author then distinguishes ‘custom’ and ‘tradition’. According to him, customs practiced by traditional societies admit innovation to a point whereas invented traditions are never open to change. While custom is dynamic, tradition imposes fixed practices. Customs require being compatible or identical with precedent whereas tradition requires formalised repetition. Hobsbawm acknowledges the role of custom in giving any desired change the sanction of precedent, social continuity and natural law as expressed in history. It also shows the combination of flexibility in substance and formal adherence to precedent.