Living in Modern Times: The Effect of Societal Change on National Identity Representation

Undoubtedly, Western societies have changed profoundly throughout the last century. Hence, questions as to how individuals cope with perceived change increasingly receive attention. Particularly interesting is the notion that change touches upon questions of identity since this a core issue of emerging populist and nativist movements. Previous research on collective continuity has shown that individuals identify more strongly with the national ingroup when perceiving societal change. However, perceiving societal change may not only affect strength of identification but also its content in the sense that individuals prefer more narrow and homogeneous representations of national identity. In addition, the underlying mechanisms for the relation between societal change and national identity remain unclear. Following previous research on uncertainty management, societal change may induce a deep sense of insecurity. Identifying with a homogeneous and clearly defined ingroup may serve as a coping strategy to deal with this unpleasant state of insecurity. Therefore, my research addresses two questions: 1) how are societal change and national identity representation related and 2) can a deep sense of insecurity account for this relation? In a first step, the paper presents causal evidence for the effect of collective continuity on national identity representation. In a vignette survey experiment (N = 689) participants read a report on a fictional study revealing that people and society either changed profoundly (collective discontinuity) or did not change at all (collective continuity). Subsequently, participants’ perception of societal change as well as ethnic and civic national identity representation were measured. The study reveals an indirect effect of experimental condition via perceived change. Compared to the participants in the collective continuity condition, participants in the collective discontinuity condition perceive more societal change which in turn relates narrower understandings of national identity with respect to both civic and ethnic criteria. In a second step, the present paper contextualizes these findings by incorporating the particular German history of division and reunification. Especially East Germans experienced profound societal change in the aftermath of the collapse of the GDR. Regional differences in societal change may manifest in specific representations of national identity and variations in insecurity may account for this relation. Cross-sectional data (N = 2038), representative for the German population, supports this notion. Overall, people living in East Germany have narrower understandings of national identity than people living in West Germany. These differences can indeed be explained by different levels of insecurity: East Germans are more likely to view the world as dangerous, unpredictable and threatening than West Germans and insecurity is in turn positively associated with narrow understandings of national identity. Finally, findings are discussed in light of increasing support for nativist and populist movements throughout Europe. Despite widespread consensus that populism involves a narrow understanding of national identity in the sense that ‘the people’ are seen as homogeneous and virtuous, little is known about how populist citizens arrive at this perception. The paper addresses this gap by showing that narrow understandings of national identity with clear group boundaries may be a reaction to societal change.