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National Identity and Religious Diversity
Author(s) -
Harttgen Kenneth,
Opfinger Matthias
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/kykl.12058
Subject(s) - national identity , religious identity , diversity (politics) , identity (music) , nationalism , democracy , ethnic group , world values survey , affection , political science , identity formation , sociology , social identity approach , social identity theory , gender studies , social psychology , social science , social group , psychology , religiosity , law , politics , self concept , physics , acoustics
Summary People are attracted to the idea of nationalism and a national identity. Existing literature proposes that social heterogeneity has a detrimental effect on national identity. We contribute to this literature by proposing that religious diversity, as another form of social heterogeneity, can better explain the formation of a national identity. We construct an index for national identity using information from the World Values Survey on peoples' affection for their nation. We then analyze the relationship between national identity and religious diversity. The results suggest that religious diversity is significantly and negatively related to national identity. We also find support for the previous finding that ethnic diversity does not seem to be related to national identity. Democratic institutions and mobility throughout the country are positively related to national identity if religious diversity is sufficiently high. Democratic institutions can overcome the negative effect of religious diversity on national identity.