Final answer:
The notion of 'imagined communities' refers to a social construct where individuals feel connected to a larger group—such as a nation-state—with shared language, culture, or ethnicity, despite not knowing all members personally. This concept, while strategically constructed by the state and mass media, fosters a sense of national identity that can transcend national borders in today's globalized world.
Step-by-step explanation:
The notion of "imagined communities" refers to the concept that citizens of a nation-state are joined together by rituals and practices that give them a collective, imagined sense of community. This idea, introduced by Benedict Anderson, explains how national identity is a constructed sense of unity, often stemming from language, culture, ethnicity, and other unifying factors. At the core, it's not that these communities are fictional, but rather that the sense of belonging and connectedness to large groups of people whom we will never meet face-to-face is fostered through various state and media-driven narratives and symbols.
Imagined communities can stretch beyond national borders, especially in the era of globalization. As proposed by cultural anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, imagined communities have been transformed by global flows of ethnicity, technology, finance, media, and ideology, leading to the creation of transnational imagined communities like the global environmental movement. This movement represents a strong example of a cross-border imagined community united by a common concern for environmental sustainability and participatory dialogue facilitated by modern communication technologies.