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pampango

(24,692 posts)
Wed Jun 4, 2014, 01:06 PM Jun 2014

What kind of nationalism makes people happy? Ethnic or civic?

The term nationalism can encompass many strands of ideology; from believing your country is superior to all other countries, to 'civic' nationalism, to protecting a state from another state's imposed power.

'Ethnic' nationalism, often expressed in racial, linguistic or religious terms, sees ancestry as the key social boundary defining the collective national 'us'. 'Civic' nationalism on the other hand is more about creating an inclusive society, requiring only respect for a country's institutions and laws for belonging. Whilst ethnic nationalism often employs a closed and antagonistic approach to minorities or immigrants, civic nationalism, in principle anyway, is more open to building bridges between different communities and opening up borders to immigrants.

Like the previous studies they found that people who exhibited more national pride had greater well-being. But Reeskens and Wright's findings also show that it was the civic nationalists who were on the whole happier, with even the proudest ethnic nationalists' well-being barely surpassing that of people with the lowest level of civic pride.

With extreme nationalist parties once again on the rise in Europe, studies like these are essential for getting to grips with complex political ideologies and for defining exactly what kind of nationalism is a desirable one. Wright believes that the findings give clues to what popular responses we might expect to trends such as millions of people crossing borders from poorer to wealthier countries looking for work or seeking refuge from war or political repression. 'It's unclear what the political implications of the happiness measure are - though unhappy citizens could demand many politically dangerous, xenophobic responses. Ethnic nationalists, proud or not, appear relatively less happy to begin with and more likely to lead the charge as their nation diversifies around them.'

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=34132

"Ethnic nationalists, proud or not, appear relatively less happy to begin with and more likely to lead the charge as their nation diversifies around them." - That seems to describe our older, whiter more conservative tea party folks and republicans in general. As the "nation diversifies around them" they "could demand many politically dangerous, xenophobic responses."

The same is true of the far-right nationalists who are rising in Europe today.

It is reassuring that 'civic' nationalists tend to be happier - proof that "creating an inclusive society" and "building bridges between different communities and opening up borders to immigrants" (liberal standards to be sure) than are "ethic" nationalists who "often employ a closed and antagonistic approach to minorities or immigrants".

None of this is very surprising but it is interesting that liberal intuition is borne out by the study.

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