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Patriotism, Xenophobia, and Support for Outgroups and Transnational Institutions

In Europe 

 Kathleen M. Dowley

Department of Political Science & International Relations,

SUNY New PaltzNew Paltz, New York

  Brian D. Silver

Department of Political ScienceMichigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan

Ana Paula TostesDepartment of Political Science

Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing, Michigan

Conference on “Communication Across Borders,” IDC, Herzliya, Israel, July 6-9, 2008

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THE PROBLEM

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Main Questions

• What are the dimensions of patriotism?

• What is the relationship between patriotism and attitudes toward outgroups (minorities, immigrants) as well as toward ceding the state’s authority to international organizations?

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Basic Predictions about Patriotism and Attitudes towards Outgroups

1. Greater patriotism associated with exclusion of outgroups. – Based on logic of social identity theory (Tajfel).– In European context, patriotic or nationalist feelings often said to foster negative attitudes toward minorities,toward immigrants, and toward ceding power to European Union (EU) institutions.

2. Titular or majority ethnic group members should be more exclusionary than nontitular group members toward outgroups and minorities (won’t emphasize this dimension today).

– Social dominance theory (Sidanius et al.). – Also, in most European countries titular group’s name is associated with country’s name, culture, heritage.

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MEASURING PATRIOTISM

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Table 1. Dimensions of Patriotism: Correspondence Across Studies

Symbolic Patriotism

(flags, anthems)

(1)

Chauvinism (my country

right or wrong)

(2)

Constructive Patriotism

(obligation to criticize)

(3)

Pride in State

(pride in institutions,

performance) (4)

Pride in Country (general)

(5)

Others

(6)

Kosterman & Feshbach (1989)

Nationalism

Patriotism (love of

country)

Several others (e.g.,

internationalism)

Sullivan et al. (1992)

Symbolic patriotism

Several others (e.g., environmental)

Schatz et al. (1999)

Blind patriotism

Constructive patriotism

Hurwitz & Peffley (1990)

Patriotism

De Figueiredo & Elkins (2003)

Nationalism

Patriotism

Smith & Kim (2005)

General Pride

Pride in Specific Achievements

Huddy & Khatib (2007)

Symbolic patriotism

Uncritical patriotism

Constructive patriotism

National Identity

Dowley & Silver (2007)

Chauvinism

Pride in State (democracy,

performance)

Pride in Heritage (art, history,

science)

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International Social Survey Program National Identity Surveys

• 199523 countries: 9 in Western Europe,

8 in Eastern Europe

• 200334 countries: 13 in Western Europe,

8 in Eastern Europe• Major focus on national identity, pride, patriotism and attitudes towards minorities, immigrants, and “Europe.” Data: http://www.issp.org• Headline: “Americans are world’s most patriotic people” http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/98/980630.patriotism.shtml

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Table 2. Factor Loadings on Dimensions of Patriotism,

2003 ISSP National Identity Survey

Survey Questions

Pride in State

Factor 1 31.9%

Chauvin-ism

Factor 2 13.1%

Pride in Heritage

Factor 3 10.9%

V26 How proud: The way democracy works .788 .201 .206

V28 How proud: [Country’s] economic achievements .767 .210 .267

V29 How proud: Its social security system .768 .125 .129

V27 How proud: Its political influence in the world .721 .255 .354

V35 How proud: Its fair and equal treatment of all groups in society

.682 .277 .307

V21 The world would be a better place if people from other countries were more like the [Country’s Nationality]

.260 .775 .129

V22 Generally speaking [Country] is a better country than most other countries

.369 .759 .148

V19 I would rather be a citizen of [Country] than of any other country in the world

.198 .700 .288

V23 People should support their country even if the country is in the wrong

.025 .589 .230

V32 How proud: Its achievements in the arts and literature .285 .122 .817

V31 How proud: Its achievements in sports

.255 .219 .780 V34 How proud: Its history .234 .343 .661

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Table 3. Mean Patriotism, by Region – 1995 and 2003

(only for countries that were included in both the 1995 and the 2003 surveys)

Pride in State 1995

Pride in State 2003

Chauvinism 1995

Chauvinism 2003

Heri- tage 1995

Heri- tage 2003

Old Europe Mean 2.61 2.64 3.18 3.13 3.03 3.02

Std. Dev.

.630 .584 .838 .806 .628 .599

N 12,177 9,712 12,284 9,856 12,091 9,654

New Europe Mean 1.97 1.93 3.31 3.30 3.06 3.08 Std.

Dev. .654 .596 .893 .847 .658 .623

N 9,528 10,061 9,705 10,168 9,389 9,996

USA Mean 2.86 2.99 3.70 3.76 3.24 3.38 Std.

Dev. .570 .559 .713 .711 .567 .535

N 1,333 1,210 1,352 1,211 1,322 1,212

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DEPENDENT VARIABLES

What are we trying to explain?

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Three Dependent Variables(sign of expected correlation with patriotism)

• Ethnic nation – support an “exclusive” definition of true membership in political community based on birth, ancestry, and religion? (+)

• Immigrants – negative images, stereotypes of immigrants? (+)

• International organizations – grant power to international organizations at expense of one’s own country? (–)

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Table 4. Factor Loadings on Criteria for Being Truly

[American/German/Russian . . . ] 2003 ISSP National Identity Survey

Factor:

Ethnic Nation

Factor 1 43.6%

Civic Nation

Factor 2 14.5%

V11 Important: To have been born in [Country] .830 .282

V18 Important: To have [Country Nationality’s] ancestry .826 .233

V13 Important: To have lived in [Country] for most of one’s life .751 .450

V15 Important: To be a [religion] .663 .163

V12 Important: To have [Country Nationality’s] citizenship .640 .571

V16 Important: To respect [Country Nationality’s] political institutions and laws

.098 .787

V14 Important: To be able to speak [Country language] .345 .696

V17 Important: To feel [Country Nationality] .482 .673

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MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

• Tests using OLS regression

• Part of analysis: Pooled respondents from Europe and U.S. (24 countries), 2003 ISSP Survey

• Pooled cases from Europe only (excluding Russia) (attitudes toward international organizations)

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Table 6. Estimated Effects of Patriotism Dimensions on

Dependent Attitudes toward Ethnic Idea of the Nation, and toward Immigration

(Europe and USA, 2003)

Dependent variable:

Ethnic Nation

(Eq. 1)

Oppose

Immigration (Eq. 3)

b t-ratio

(sig.) b t-ratio

(sig.)

Pride in

State -.146 -23.048

(<.001) -.332

-47.280 (<.001)

Chauvinism .474 90.875

(<.001) .349 60.237

(<.001)

Pride in Heritage

.175 24.094 (<.001)

.055 6.770 (<.001)

C 1.046 41.122

(<.001) 2.781 98.625

(<.001)

Adj. R2 .274 .162

SEE .684 .753 N 27,067 26,773

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Table 6b. Summary of Estimated Effects of Patriotism on Xenophobic Attitudes

Ethnic Nation

Oppose Immigration

Pride in State

( )

Pride less ethnically exclusive nation (religion, birth)

( )

Pride less opposed to immigrants

Chauvinism

(+)

Chauvinism more ethnically exclusive nation

(+)

Chauvinism more opposed to immigrants

Pride in Heritage

(+)

Pride more ethnically exclusive nation

(+)

Pride more opposed to immigrants

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Table 7. Mean Levels of Patriotism,

by Titular (majority) and Nontitular (minority) Ethnic Groups

(Europe plus USA, 20031)

Pride in

State Chauvinism

Pride in Heritage

Majority or Titular

Ethnic group

Mean

2.300

3.224

3.064 Std. Dev. .715 .860 .603

N 13,926 14,052 13,847

Minority

Ethnic group

Mean

2.263

3.041

2.919 Std. Dev. .732 .874 .657 N 2,101 2,134 2,056

Difference Mean diff. .064 .184 .145

(Sig.) (.001) (<.001) (<.001)

1 Only countries that have at least one minority group with 30 or more respondents are included in this analysis: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, The Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA.

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Figure 1. Predicted Effects of Patriotism on Attitudes toward “Others” Figure 1a.

A. ETHNIC NATION

1 2 3 4

Pride in State

0

1

2

3

4Support for Ethnic Nation

Titular

Non-Titular

1 2 3 4 5

Chauvinism

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4Support for Ethnic Nation

Titular

Non-Titular

1 2 3 4

Pride in Heritage

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4Support for Ethnic Nation

Titular

Non-Titular

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Figure 1c. C. OPPOSE IMMIGRATION

1 2 3 4

State Pride

1

2

3

4

5Oppose Immigration

Titular

Non-Titular

1 2 3 4 5

Chauvinism

1

2

3

4

5Oppose Immigration

Titular

Non-Titular

1 2 3 4

Pride in Heritage

1

2

3

4

5Oppose Immigration

Titular

Non-Titular

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EXTENSION:

ATTITUDES TOWARD INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

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1. In general [COUNTRY] should follow the decisions of international organizations to which it belongs, even if the government does not agree with them (V43).

Strongly agree (5), Agree (2), Neither agree nor disagree (3), Disagree (4), Strongly disagree (1).

 

2. International organizations are taking away too much power from the [COUNTRY NATIONALITY] government (V44).

Strongly agree (1), Agree (2), Neither agree nor disagree (3),

Disagree (4), Strongly disagree (5).

Two Survey Questions (combine to get new variable:5=strongest support for IO’s,

1= weakest)

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 Table 10. Pride in State, Chauvinism,and Partisan Ideology and Support for International Organizational Power

 (Combined European respondents, exc.Russia) 

 Dependent

Variable:

 Favor InternationalGovernment Power

    

b 

t-ratio(sig.)

  

State Pride

 

.127 

 12.124(<.001)

 Chauvinism

 -.179

 -22.240(<.001)

Partisan Ideology (left=1; rt.=5)

 -.019

 -3.346(<.001)

C 

3.215 

88.338(<.001)

 Adjusted R2

SEE

N

 .038.792

15,538

 

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Main Results• Does patriotism lead to negative attitudes toward

“others?” Depends on the dimension of patriotism: Strong support for the state institutions, esp.democratic state institutions is not exclusionary; Strong chauvinism, however, is exclusionary.

• Does patriotism lead to negative attitudes toward international organizations? Depends again. Paradox: the stronger people’s support for their own country’s political institutions, the more willing they are to subordinate their country’s authority to that of international organizations.