In this chapter, Giesen explains how the rise of the modern nation state was accompanied by breakthroughs in the relation between society and nature. The industrial revolution of the nineteenth century established a new mode of harnessing energy from nature and allowed for a hitherto unheard-of growth of productivity. At the same time, nationalism as a political principle and as a form of cultural classification emerged. Peripheral intellectuals promoted the principle of nationhood in opposition to traditional power centers and thus created a new sense of collective identity. The world became divided into different nations, endowed with the right of self-rule, while within each nation the ideals of equality, dignity and freedom were promoted. The presumed homogeneity of the nation, however, inevitably produces national minorities and occasionally leads to acts of ethnic cleansing. The classification system of modern nation states is further characterized by functional differentiation, which acknowledges the autonomy of law, science, art, and other subsystems of society. Furthermore, the individual person attains a sacred status but the discontents of individualization breed a new longing for community. The circulation of power in modern nation states proceeds through elections, while the representation of the world happens in the mass media.