Why don't people forget their national identity? Billig suggests that everyday nationalism is present in the media, in numerous ubiquitous symbols, and in certain routine habits of language. Common elements in our daily life, such as the flag that flies in public buildings, schools, offices, house facades, etc., are effective reminders that operate mechanically on the individual and collective unconscious, beyond deliberate awareness. . While traditional theory has focused on the most radical expressions of nationalism, the author focuses attention on the everyday and less visible forms of this ideology, which are deeply embedded in contemporary consciousness, and which constitute what defines it as a "banal nationalism".

Billig's writings are essential reading to understand the national phenomenon, the most banal aspects in which it manifests itself and how it is used, in the first place, by nation-states. The author questions the orthodox theories of Sociology, Political Science and Social Psychology that ignore this crucial issue, and states with conviction and documentation that nationalism continues to be a fundamental ideological force in the contemporary world.