Individual and societal bases of national identity - A comparative multi-level analysis

In a previous study (Jones and Smith, 1999) we established that much the sa me core pattern of national identity characterizes many developed countries . Using the national identity module from the 1995 International Social Sur vey Programme, we identified two dimensions of national identity: an ascrip tive dimension resembling the concept of ethnic identity described in the h istorical and theoretical literature, and a voluntarist dimension closer to the notion of civic identity. Some writers view these dimensions in terms of a historical sequence but we find that both constructs coexist in the mi nds of individual respondents in the nations we examine (we exclude Bulgari a and the Philippines from the present but not the earlier analysis). The d ataset used for the multilevel analyses reported here consists of 28 589 re spondents in the remaining 21 countries included in the national identity d atabase for the 1995 round of surveys. The macrosociological literature on national identity does not offer well-d efined predictions about what precise patterns of national identification w e might expect to find among the masses of the developed countries. There a re, however, recurring themes from which one can construct plausible hypoth eses about how countries might differ according to their level of developme nt, broadly conceived. Thus, we hypothesize that forces such as post-indust rialism and globalization tend to favour the more open voluntaristic form o f national identity over the more restrictive ascribed form. We develop dif ferent multi-level models in order to evaluate specific hypotheses pertaini ng to such issues, by simultaneously relating individual and societal chara cteristics to the relative strength of individual commitment to these diffe rent types of national identity.