The effect of priming civic or ethnic national identities on welfare chauvinism: An experimental study

This paper examines how civic and ethnic dimensions of national identity affect welfare chauvinism. Previous research indicates that the way national identity is conceptualized affects attitudes toward the welfare state and welfare chauvinism. While Shayo’s model suggests that national identification reduces support for income redistribution, other theoretical approaches, such as the common in-group identity model, suggest that a common identity can foster cooperation and enhance welfare state support. Previous experimental studies indicate that a higher salience of national identity primed through exposure to national symbols (e.g. flags) can increase solidarity within the national in-group, especially among citizens strongly identifying with the nation. However, less is known about the effect of priming the civic or ethnic dimension of national identity. This study tests the effect of such priming on participants’ welfare chauvinism and welfare state support. I conduct a pre-registered experiment funded by the European Research Council project “POLITSOLID”, using a sample (N ~ 1600) from the German forsa.omninet panel. Participants are primed with a text emphasizing either the civic or ethnic dimension of national identity. The dependent variables are welfare chauvinism and general welfare state support. Results provide novel insights into divergent effects of civic and ethnic dimensions of national identity on welfare chauvinism and general welfare state support.