Macro sociological studies on national identity very often conceive the meanings attributed to the national identities as a dichotomy between civic and ethnic. The macro sociological evidence is based on national narratives as they are transmitted by the elites’ public discourse, school textbooks etc. At the individual level, however, the evidence of this dichotomy is far to be clear. Several studies at individual level suggest that the meanings attributed to the national identity reflect a more nuanced dichotomy between ascribed and achieved identity contents. These difference are credited to affect attitudes towards immigrants. What is very often lacking is a full account of the entire sequence between perception individual might have of their national narratives, the meanings they attributed to their national identity and their attitudes towards immigrants.
This paper will address two main topics. 1) the link between perception of country national narrative by individuals and the meanings attributed by them to their national identity. 2) the effects of national identity meanings on the attitudes toward immigrants. Data come from a cross-national survey conducted in USA (2004), France(2009), Italy(2004).
