Contrasting perspectives: Belief in national superiority in relation to countries’ performance

Abstract

This article examines cross-country differences in the strength of individuals’ belief that their country is better than most others and the dependence of this belief on their country’s performance in various spheres. The research design consists of a series of multilevel ordinal logistic regression models estimated using the data of the most recent thematic wave of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)—National Identity module. Our research finds that these effects are mostly nonlinear U-shaped: people from both high- and low-performing countries express a strong belief in their country’s superiority, while people from average-performing countries do not. These findings suggest a bifurcated nature of belief in national superiority—an interplay between a grounded estimation of a country’s actual achievements and the social norms and individual motivations that prescribe holding one’s own country in high esteem regardless of its actual performance. These norms are found to be the strongest in underperforming countries, while in average- and high-performing countries, people making these evaluations are under weaker normative pressure and therefore more attuned to country achievements. As a result, the weakest belief in national superiority is found not in underperforming, but in average-performing countries. The latter also have the highest diversity on this belief, probably because different segments of the population compare their country’s performance against different benchmarks.

Introduction to the special issue of the International Journal of Comparative Sociology on “National identity, nationalism, patriotism, and globalization”

“…Seen in combination, the collected contributions walk us along various links of a potential explanatory chain between societal level conditions, and again, xenophobia as the dependent variable positioned farthest to the "right" in a path diagram. Central conditions of interest at the societal level are, for example, a society's exposure to globalization (Kim, 2023), the societal level of wealth (Fabrykant and Magun, 2022), or historical trajectories toward building the nation (Ariely, 2021). The studies then investigate the effects of those conditions on national pride (Fabrykant and Magun, 2022) or on xenophobia (Ariely, 2021;Kim, this issue) at the individual level, and mostly find at least partial confirmation of their hypotheses: National pride is highest for low-income individuals in mid-income countries; countries with shorter histories of their national identity tend to have more chauvinist and xenophobic reactions to perceived threat, and exposure to globalization tends to increase xenophobia, net of other factors.…”

“…Central conditions of interest at the societal level are, for example, a society's exposure to globalization (Kim, 2023), the societal level of wealth (Fabrykant and Magun, 2022), or historical trajectories toward building the nation (Ariely, 2021). The studies then investigate the effects of those conditions on belief in national superiority (Fabrykant and Magun, 2022) or on xenophobia (Ariely, 2021;Kim, this issue) at the individual level, and mostly find at least partial confirmation of their hypotheses: Countries with shorter histories of their national identity tend to have more chauvinist and xenophobic reactions to perceived threat, and exposure to globalization tends to increase xenophobia, net of other factors.…”

“…Much less common are the foci chosen by Wamsler (2022), who looks at group-level relative deprivation (employing a direct measurement of such feelings of deprivation!) as a psychological driver behind chauvinist nationalist sentiments, and by Fabrykant and Magun (2022), who look at the relationship of national wealth and belief in national superiority. The findings of both contributions clearly point to (in particular, chauvinist) nationalism acting as psychological compensator for perceived disadvantages.…”

“…In the "Overview of the papers" section, the sentence "The studies then investigate the effects of those conditions on national pride (Fabrykant and Magun, 2022) or on xenophobia (Ariely, 2021;Kim, this issue) at the individual level, and mostly find at least partial confirmation of their hypotheses: National pride is highest for low-income individuals in mid-income countries; countries with shorter histories of their national identity tend to have more chauvinist and xenophobic reactions to perceived threat, and exposure to globalization tends to increase xenophobia, net of other factors." has been updated to "Countries with shorter histories of their national identity tend to have more chauvinist and xenophobic reactions to perceived threat, and exposure to globalization tends to increase xenophobia, net of other factors.…”