American national identity

Description:

"Why is national identity such a potent force in people's lives? And is the force positive or negative? In this book, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse develops a social theory of national identity and uses a national survey, focus groups, and experiments to answer these important questions in the American context. Her results show that the combination of group commitment and the setting of exclusive boundaries on the national group affects how people behave toward their fellow Americans. Strong identifiers care a great deal about their national group. They want to help and be loyal to their fellow Americans. By limiting who counts as an American, though, these strong identifiers place serious limits on who benefits from their pro-group behavior. Help and loyalty are offered only to "true Americans," not Americans who do not count and who are pushed to the periphery of the national group."--Jacket.

subjects: American National characteristics,  Group identity,  Loyalty,  Nationalism,  Psychological aspects,  Psychological aspects of American national characteristics,  Psychological aspects of Nationalism,  Social aspects,  Social aspects of American national characteristics,  Social aspects of Loyalty,  Social aspects of Nationalism,  Social conditions,  Social psychology,  National characteristics, american,  Nationalism, united states,  United states, social conditions,  SOCIAL SCIENCE,  Anthropology,  Cultural,  Discrimination & Race Relations,  Minority Studies,  Nationalbewusstsein

Places: United States

Times: 1980-