Diversity and Commonality in National Identities: An Exploratory Analysis of Cross-National Patterns

Abstract

Issues of boundary maintenance are implicit in all studies of national identity. By definition, national communities consist of those who are included but surrounded (literally or metaphorically) by those who are excluded. Most extant research on national identity explores criteria for national membership largely in terms of official or public definitions described, for example, in citizenship and immigration laws or in texts of popular culture. We know much less about how ordinary people in various nations reason about these issues. An analysis of cross-national (N= 23) survey data from the 1995 International Social Science Program reveals a core pattern in most of the countries studied. Respondents were asked how important various criteria were in being ‘truly’ a member of a particular nation. Exploratory factor analysis shows that these items cluster in terms of two underlying dimensions. Ascriptive/objectivist criteria relating to birth, religion and residence can be distinguished from civic/voluntarist criteria relating to subjective feelings of membership and belief in core institutions. In most nations the ascriptive/objectivist dimension of national identity was more prominent than the subjective civic/voluntarist dimension. Taken overall, these findings suggest an unanticipated homogeneity in the ways that citizens around the world think about national identity. To the extent that these dimensions also mirror the well-known distinction between ethnic and civic national identification, they suggest that the former remains robust despite globalization, mass migration and cultural pluralism. Throughout the world official definitions of national identification have tended to shift towards a civic model. Yet citizens remain remarkably traditional in outlook. A task for future research is to investigate the macrosociological forces that produce both commonality and difference in the core patterns we have identified.

“There is still peace. There are no wars.”: Prioritizing unity over diversity in Botswana’s social studies policies and practices and the implications for positive peace

“…Sociologists have shown that ethnic elements of national identity hold more salience for individuals across nations than do civic elements (Jones & Smith, 2001), but that individuals of minority backgrounds favor civic elements (Kunovich, 2009). Individual teachers, therefore, may emphasize elements of the written curriculum or introduce content and perspectives from outside the textbooks based on those elements of national identity most meaningful to them.…”

Autour d’un Pacifique postcolonial, pluriel et plurilingue

“…L'autre conception (ethnique ou objectiviste) repose davantage sur des notions objectives de parenté et de culture, par exemple le fait tout simplement d'être né au Vanuatu ou bien de parler couramment le bislama, de respecter la kastom ou de se déclarer chrétien. Enfin, notre enquête permet d'examiner en une mesure générale comment les attitudes et les croyances sur l'identité nationale peuvent se transposer dans les politiques instaurées au niveau institutionnel et se transmettre dans la mythologie collective et les discours publics (Jones et Smith, 2001). …”

Measurement Equivalence Across Subnational Groups: An Analysis of the Conception of Nationhood in Switzerland

“…Ethnic criteria such as having national ancestry or being a member of the main religious group of the nation are hard or impossible to obtain. On the other hand, civic criteria entail a voluntarist representation of the nation (Jones & Smith, 2001), where being a member of the nation requires adherence to political and cultural aspects of the nation (e.g., respecting institutions and speaking the language). Because they can be acquired, civic criteria might appear to be less strict than ethnic criteria.…”