Durkheim's approach to the sociocultural aspects of religion enables one to postulate that for industrial society, nationalism is a religion that fosters solidarity. Industrial nationalism differs from the nationalism of peasant society in being able to foster societal integration without undermining instrumental effectiveness. This is so partly because industrial nationalism is politico-economic, while peasant nationalism is religio-ethnic. Only industrial society has effective mechanisms for increasing diversity and uniformity simultaneously—and for differentiating between nonfunctional diversity and eufunctional/dysfunctional diversity. These conditions are fostered by the fact that industrial nationalism treats observable phenomena (rather than some metaphysical referent) as ultimate reality—and treats maximum empirical success as a fundamental end in itself. However, this confounding of pragmatic considerations with ethical ones makes industrial society's solidarity particularly vulnerable.