National Identity in a United Germany: Nationalism or Patriotism? An Empirical Test With Representative Data

Nationalism and patriotism can be thought of as consequences of national identity that represent positive evaluations of one's own group but imply different social goals. This paper investigates the ways in which these concepts are related to attitudes toward minorities. The data analyzed were drawn from a representative sample of residents of the former East and West Germany who responded to items on the national identity of Germans in 1996 as part of a panel study. A model with multiple indicators was tested via a multiple-group analysis of a structural equations model followed by latent class analyses. Both East and West Germans displayed attitudinal patterns that link national identity with tolerance toward others; in both subsamples, nationalism and patriotism were respectively associated with greater intolerance and greater tolerance toward minorities.     

Self-esteem, academic self-concept, and achievement: how the learning environment moderates the dynamics of self-concept

The authors examine the directionality of effects between global self-esteem, domain-specific academic self-concepts, and academic achievement. Special emphasis is placed on learning environments as potential moderators of the direction of these effects. According to the meritocracy principle presented here, so-called bottom-up effects (i.e., self-esteem is influenced by academic self-concept) are more pronounced in meritocratic learning environments than in ego-protective learning environments. This hypothesis was examined using a three-wave cross-lagged panel design with a large sample of 7th graders from East and West Germany, a total of 5,648 students who were tested shortly after German reunification. Reciprocal effects were found between self-esteem, academic self-concept, and academic achievement. In conformance with the meritocracy principle, support for bottom-up effects was stronger in the meritocratic learning environment.     

Luther and the German State

This article is a discussion of the instrumentalization of Martin Luther by German historiography in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for politically-legitimating, purpose providing ('sinnstiftend') and especially national purposes. In the nineteenth century the Luther jubilee of 1883 was one of the highlights of German nationalism, which had developed rapidly since the unification of 1871. During the First and Second World War Luther again was turned into an active supporter of German nationalism. This study focuses on the last large-scale attempt to instrumentalize Luther for national purposes; ie the Luther interpretation in the German Democratic Republic. With the help of a new Luther reception the GDR tried to improve the basis for her own national identity. She intensified her policy of delimitation from the Federal Republic of Germany with the help of a new and very positive Luther image. These East German attempts, however, backfired and were counter productive in their results. The political appeal to an all-German historical personality like Martin Luther could not legitimate a divided Germany. On the contrary, it brought about the opposite, that is it rather stimulated underlying all-German affinities and cohesive forces. Of course East German historians did not aim at "Wiedervereinigung"– which, naturally was a political issue of the highest degree. But, with the aid of Luther, they unconsciously played an important part in setting the stage for German unification.     

Psychoanalytische Aspekte des Umzugs von West nach Ost im vereinten Deutschland

After the reunion of East and West Germany many people of the former GDR had to deal with cultural shocks and adjustment difficulties of different types in the new cultural environment, which could be characterized as becoming intimate with post-modern western culture in a process of identity development. On the other hand people who move from West Germany to East Germany still are confronted with the heritage of harassment in public and private life over more than two generations. Some of these persons, especially those who were victims of early traumata in their childhood during the rigid and authoritarian social world after World War II in West Germany, are subject to re-traumatization under these circumstances. Two case vignettes illustrate these phenomena. The childhood traumata of these patients, their coping in West Germany, and the process of pathological regression after the removal to East Germany are described and analyzed.     

Tendentious texts: Holocaust representations and nation-rebuilding in East German,Italian, and West German schoolbooks, 1949–1989*

This article examines how post-fascist perpetrator countries – East Germany, Italy, and West Germany – represented the Second World War and the Holocaust in middle school history textbooks. History textbooks were important actors in the creation of new democratic communities in East Germany, Italy, and West Germany. Through a transnational comparison of one leading textbook published in each country, this paper answers why and how West Germany was eventually more successful than East Germany and Italy in conveying to its youth a more nuanced and self-critical national memory of the Second World War and the Holocaust. Such knowledge is imperative, not just to understand the past, but also to provide a better grasp of how to democratize youth in the future, an important topic, given the spectre of right-wing ethno-nationalism that has seen a revival in recent years.     

Stereotypic ingroup bias as self‐defense against relative deprivation: evidence from a longitudinal study of the German unification process

In a longitudinal questionnaire field study on psychological consequences of German unification, the intergroup situation between East and West Germans was investigated. Data were collected in 1996 and 1998. The sample consisted of 585 East Germans and 387 West Germans who had never lived in the other part of Germany. It was assumed that East Germans' social identity is threatened due to their fraternal deprivation in comparison with West Germans. It was predicted that East Germans would employ ingroup bias as an identity management strategy in order to protect their emotional well‐being against harmful consequences of fraternal deprivation. In line with this prediction, it was found that (a) East Germans feel fraternally deprived compared to West Germans on important quality of life dimensions, (b) they display ingroup bias vis‐à‐vis West Germans, (c) ingroup bias increases with increasing East German identity, (d) ingroup bias is determined longitudinally by relative deprivation, and (e) ingroup bias buffers the effect of relative deprivation on mental health over time. As expected, ingroup bias and the effects of ingroup bias were larger for the dimension of personal integrity than for the dimensions of sympathy and competence. Ingroup bias is interpreted as compensatory self‐enhancement. West Germans feel fraternally privileged compared to East Germans and consider their advantages to be undeserved. Unexpectedly, West Germans display outgroup bias on the stereotype dimensions of integrity. This bias is interpreted as an effort to appease the moral outrage of East Germans and to silence their own guilty conscience due to undeserved advantages. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

National Days,National Identity,and Collective Memory: Exploring the Impact of Holocaust Day in Israel

This study uses the case of Holocaust Day in Israel to examine the premise that national days impact national identity and collective memory. Specifically, the study examines whether a very unique type of national day—Holocaust Day—impacts national identification, nationalism, and collective memory in the form of Israeli Jews' perceptions of the “lessons” of the Holocaust. This study uses panel survey design data on national identity and perceptions of the Holocaust's lessons from the same sample of Israeli Jews (N = 665) collected two months prior to Holocaust Day and again during and after Holocaust Day. During and after Holocaust Day, respondents expressed increased levels of nationalism and more perceptions of both particularistic and universalistic Holocaust lessons. Participation in Holocaust Day practices had a stronger relationship with nationalism and national identification during Holocaust Day than before but a weaker relationship with the perception of a universalistic lesson during Holocaust Day. These findings indicate that Holocaust Day impacts national identity and collective memory and highlights the multifaceted nature of the relationships between national identity, collective memory, and national days. The theoretical implication of the findings as well as the case comparability are discussed in light of the findings.     

Ethnic identity, self-esteem, and occupational aspirations of Indian and Anglo-Saxon British adolescents

A questionnaire monitoring occupational aspiration, ethnic identification, adolescent experience, and self-esteem was administered to a large sample of Indian and Anglo-Saxon British male and female adolescents attending school in the West Midlands. The relationship between these variables and differences between the four groups were consistent with predictions derived from the social identity approach to intergroup relations and group behaviour (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Indian males were found to possess a social mobility belief structure that mediates high occupational aspirations and keeness to marry out of their ethnic group. In contrast, Indian females were found to possess a social change belief structure associated with acceptance of the status quo and lower aspirations. Males and Anglo-Saxons reported higher self-esteem than females or Indians. The adolescent experience findings were less clear, but were consistent with the general interpretation of the data that the differences in intersex relations and gender-related experiences are contingent on ethnicity.     

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands: concepts,developments, and backdrops

In recent years, the Netherlands has been frequently confronted with public incidents of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. After defining the complex concepts of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, presenting the theoretical approach to these phenomena, and sketching the societal context in which they are embedded, this article describes the development of the numbers of reported expressions of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands since the turn of the century. It notes that the general level of annual numbers of recorded incidents of the phenomena has increased since 2000 and, at the same time, there are significant fluctuations in the numbers of notified incidents per year. These fluctuations correlate to outbursts of violence in the Middle East and to acts of violence committed in the name of Islam in the West, while the general higher level of incidents of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia relates to numerous and various threats experienced in the context of the Dutch multi-ethnic society, changes in national identity, and trends in globalisation.     

Measuring Religiosity of East Asians: Multiple Religious Belonging,Believing, and Practicing

Social surveys normally assume that respondents adhere to a single religious faith in belonging, believing, and practicing congruently. Some surveys even take religious identity as the singular measure of religiosity and examine its relationship with other variables. This practice, however, fails to capture nonexclusive and hybrid religiosity, which is arguably the traditional and normal pattern in East Asia while becoming increasingly common in the West. We have developed a new set of survey questions and conducted a survey among East Asian international students at an American university. The findings show that multiple religious belonging, believing, and practicing are quite common, the level of believing and participating in religions varies substantially, and no confession-based single measure of religious identity or practice is sufficient for measuring religiosity. We recommend this set of improved measures of religiosity be adopted in future surveys in East Asia and probably in the West as well.     

“And Yet It Moves”: Dream and Reality of the Ecumenical Movement

This article offers an overview of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, which met in Karlsruhe, Germany, in August–September 2022. It sets out the context in which the assembly took place, the main issues discussed, and perspectives for the future. The article argues that the assembly in Karlsruhe demonstrated that the ecumenical movement still is alive and can offer enormous potential in a world at the brink of a new East–West divide, facing a significant weakening of multilateral structures of cooperation, and even the threat of nuclear war. Moreover, the Karlsruhe assembly demonstrated that on subjects such as the Middle East, peace ethics, and nationalism, and in the deep commitment and spiritual life of its participants, the ecumenical movement is vital and vibrant and represents a countercultural force against rigid nationalisms.     

Genetic Counseling Practices in Germany: A Comparison Between East German and West German Geneticists

As part of an international study of ethics and genetics, we present a comparison between survey responses of 43 East German and 212 West German geneticists to anonymous questionnaires. Both groups indicated that the experience of the Third Reich has impacted the genetics profession in Germany today. East German geneticists reported more directive counseling practices after prenatal diagnosis for 10 of 26 conditions than those from West Germany. When asked to give their personal opinions about pregnancy termination, East Germans were more accepting of abortion than their West German colleagues for 7 of 24 fetal indications. In addition, there were significant differences between the two sample groups for 8 questions on the perception of disability and society. Discussions with German geneticists suggest that, while both groups were affected by Germany's experience of Nazism, different abortion laws, political systems, and ideas about the doctor-patient relationship in former East and West Germany may account for discrepancies in reported genetic counseling practices and in attitudes toward abortion and disability.     

In God We Distrust: Christian Nationalism and Anti-Atheist Attitude

Prior research found that Christian nationalism, a belief that integrates Christian identity with American national identity, was associated with more negative views toward marginalized groups, such as religious minorities. Relatively less known is the relationship between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward atheists. Specifically, even less is known about whether or not Christian nationalism that is above individuals at the macro, geographic level may influence individual views of atheists. Using nationally representative multilevel data, this study found that higher individual Christian nationalism was associated with more negative views toward atheists. No robust state-level Christian nationalism influence was found for anti-atheist attitude. However, Blacks, relative to Whites, were less likely to view atheists negatively in states where Christian nationalism was higher. Meanwhile, in states where Christian nationalism was higher, Black Protestants were less prejudiced against atheists compared to Evangelical Protestants.     

Sexism in the pictures of children's readers: East and West Germany compared

School readers from East and West Germany were analyzed to test the hypothesis that children's literature in both socialist and capitalist societies shows stereotyped sex-role bias favoring males, but that socialist literature shows less bias. A content analysis of pictures was done for grades 1 through 4, using a sample of approximately 22% of West German readers and all four of the universally used East German readers. West German books increased in bias from the 1960s to the 1970s. Both countries showed patterns of increasing bias from grades 1 through 4. West Germany was significantly more biased than the East on nine variables. The hypothesis was thus confirmed.The author would like to express gratitude to Dr. Norbert Siara, Ms. Göldner, and the staff of the Institut für Bildungsmedian in Frankfurt (M) for their assistance and the use of their library, from which the BRD sample was taken.     

Economic inequality and the rise of far‐right populism: A social psychological analysis

It is argued that far‐right (FR) populism in the West is fuelled by inequality. In this paper, we argue that three social psychological processes are central to explaining these phenomena. We suggest that these processes are recursive although we do not specify their temporal order. Drawing on the social identity tradition, we first examine how inequality is linked to reduced social trust and cohesion, which has consequences for both low‐ and high‐income groups. We examine the known effects of perceived threat in amplifying tensions between groups and consolidating identity positions. Second, we argue that national identity consolidation is a particularly likely response to inequality, which, in turn, reduces tolerance of cultural diversity as an associated consequence. Finally, we consider the value of these strengthened national identities to those who harness them effectively to gain political ground. In this way, those who offer FR populist rhetoric aligned with nationalism can blame immigrants, “foreign” powers, and mainstream politics for both the lack of social cohesion and reduced economic circumstances of many. We conclude that FR populist leaders not only tap into the negative social consequences of inequality, their policy positions also fail to address and may even compound the situation.     

Toward a psychoanalytic theory of violence,fundamentalism and terrorism

Abstract

Why would a group of people behave in ways that appear to us as moral nihilism, such as the events of 9/11? One cause is an affective one that underlies all violent behavior, namely, narcissistic injuries severe enough to threaten the survival of the self or of the group with which the self identifies, in the absence of non-violent means of maintaining or restoring individual or collective self-esteem. But there is also a uniquely modern cognitive reason for this uniquely modern form of violence, and of the apocalyptic fundamentalism that legitimizes it: namely, that terrorists see themselves as destroying the nihilism that they perceive as coming from us, that is, from the modern Western scientific mentality that destroys the credibility of the traditional sources of moral, legal and political authority and legitimacy, God and religion. Fundamentalism originated in the United States and has spread throughout the world as a rebellion against modernity. This suggests means of curing it: by facilitating access to modern education, psychological awareness, socio-economic equality and political democracy, to help protect all societies from the affective threats of shame and humiliation, and the cognitive threats of nihilism, anomie and anarchy (and their alternatives, nationalism, dogmatism and theocracy).     

Losing My Religion as a Natural Experiment: How State Pressure and Taxes Led to Church Disaffiliations between 1940 and 2010 in Germany

The sociological literature has produced a remarkably consistent picture of the quantitative patterns of religious disaffiliations in Western countries. This article argues, and demonstrates, that strong changes in a social context may lead individuals to disaffiliate rapidly, leading to very different aggregate effects from those in the “western model.” We use the unique situation of the separation of Germany from 1949 to 1989 and its subsequent reunification as a “natural experiment” to show just how much the relationships routinely found can be disrupted under changed conditions. The state socialist “treatment” affected religious disaffiliations in East Germany profoundly as it (a) made disaffiliations 10 times more probable in the East than in the West in the 1950s and 1960s, (b) shielded East German church members from factors that led to mass disaffiliations in the West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, (c) reversed the education‐disaffiliation link in the East, thus making disaffiliation more likely among the less educated, and (d) led to an especially strong increase in disaffiliations in the East right after the reunification     

Sex-role orientation,identity formation,and self-esteem in college men and women

Contrasting hypotheses that psychological androgyny (Bem, 1974, 1975) would be associated with (1) identity confusion and a lack of personal integration or (2) identity achievement and high levels of integration were tested. Sex-role orientation, ego-identity status, and self-esteem were determined for 111 college men and women. The results support the second hypothesis, that high levels of masculinity and femininity (androgynous orientation) are conducive to identity achievement and high self-esteem. In contrast, low levels of masculine and feminine characteristics (undifferentiated sex-role orientation) were associated with uniformly low self-esteem and a lack of personal integration (identity diffusion). Sex-typing was most often associated with premature identity commitments and a lack of personality differentiation (identity foreclosure) and with high self-esteem in males but low self-esteem in females. Cross-sex-typing was associated with high levels of self-esteem and identity achievement in females, but with somewhat lower self-esteem in males and either unsuccessful (diffusion) or transitional (moratorium) levels of identity resolution.This research was supported by University of Missouri Summer Research Fellowship 3694-1100. The author would like to express his gratitude to Mona Asbed, Richard Baker, Sheila Ginsburg, Keith Shaw, and Marsha Whitson for conducting and rating the identity status interviews.     

Self-esteem among lesbian,gay, bisexual and same-sex-attracted Mormons and ex-Mormons

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and same-sex-attracted (LGB/SSA) individuals in conservative religions often experience stigma, shame, and psychological distress in reconciling their religious and sexual identities, yet religion can also provide existential comfort and social support. We investigated relationships among self-esteem, participation in the Mormon Church, and sexual identity acceptance among 348 LGB/SSA Mormons and ex-Mormons in 2013–2014 and found that the two groups reported similar self-esteem. By testing plausible mediators (family support, gay/SSA identity acceptance, and agreement with Mormon Church policy prohibiting same-sex behaviour) through a path model, results revealed different pathways to self-esteem. Practicing LGB/SSA Mormons reported higher family support and lower gay/SSA identity acceptance than ex-Mormons, while those self-identifying as SSA but not gay reported lower gay/SSA identity acceptance. We suggest that religiously active Mormons demonstrate low self-acceptance of their gay/SSA identity while ex-Mormons suffer loss of familial and social support, resulting in equal self-esteem across church status groups.