engleski

Is my country in my blood? A comparison in patriotic and national attachment between Croatian and American university students

Although with no firm consensus, it is possible to determine two generally accepted definitions of a term nation. First one, could be named the civic conception, assumes the definition of nation within a state territory, on the basis of citizenship. In this definition it is understood that all citizens of a state, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, language, historical, religious or other origin make a nation (jus soli or the law of the soil). The second conception could be named the cultural-ethnic, and it assumes that a nation is made of the members of the group who share the common characteristics: origin, language, culture, history, religious affiliation, and a feeling of sharing the same fate (jus sanguinis or the law of blood). While such a distinction is fairly satisfying in describing political realities, it is questionable how satisfying it is when dealing with more blurred, psychological categories of (national) loyalty and (national) identity. If we follow aforementioned distinction, assuming that it is also established in psychological realities, then one can expect profoundly different psychological consequences of these two types of group belonging. The civic one should be more inclusive, providing much more possibilities for person to become a member of the group. The ethnic one is assumed to be more exclusive, implying “ possession” of certain characteristics for person to become a member of the group. Being a member and not being a member does not only have consequences for person’ s psychological identification with a group ; it also have a consequence for how we relate with others who are not members of our group. A questionnaire measuring few types of national allegiance (national identity, constructive and blind patriotism, ethnic/cultural patriotism) was administered in the sample of 535 participants: 271 American and 264 Croatian university students. A measure of social distance towards in-group and various outgroups was also taken. Results revealed a different level of national identity and patriotic feelings in participants from two sub-samples, with American students, somewhat unexpectedly, scoring higher in almost all measures of group allegiance. The results of social distance correlate with the measures of group allegiance, indicating negative correlation between in-group loyalty and attitudes towards outgroup. However, the strength of the correlation varies, depending on who the out-group is. The results were commented by highlighting the differences in types of national allegiances we found among Croatian and American students and implications these allegiances have on inter-group relations.

patriotism; nationalism; blind and constructive patriotism; ethno-cultural patriotism; inter-group relations

nije evidentirano