[1] Primordialists argue that each individual has a single inborn ethnic identity independent of historical processes.
[8][9] However, political scientist John Coakley does not name Shils or Geertz as the first theorists or adopters of the concept of primordialism, although he discusses their works.
According to the radical primordialist view, the identity of national groups is determined by biological characteristics and genes.
[12] Critics of primordialism, anthropologist Jack David Eller and sociologist Reed M. Coughlan, believe that primordialist view based on Geertz's ideas can lead to such a radical conclusion, since it perceives ethnic identity as an inexplicable, but at the same time an essential emotional phenomenon, which leads to the mystification of national emotions and, in turn, facilitates radical conclusions.
He emphasizes that researchers representing primordialist views generally do not think that ethnicity is determined by blood ties or genes, but rather consider that while the connections between oneself and certain ethnic groups are cognitive, the characteristics of the groups that form the basis of this cognition have been developed and remain stable over a long period of time.
[12] Political scientist Murat Bayar also believes that primordialism is characterized not so much by the view that nationality is determined by nature or genes, but rather by the understanding of the permanence of ethnic identity.