Two kinds of patriotism, which one is better?

When the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, passionately called in his inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." American journalist Ambrose ? Pierce satirized patriotism as nothing more than "a pile of flammable garbage that can be ignited at any time by any ambitious person to illuminate his name." Out of patriotism, Korean women during the economic crisis donated gold and silver jewelry to help the government, and American people were willing to give up their personal freedoms to support the Patriot Act. It seems that the same patriotic sentiment has dragged the United States into the quagmire of a series of overseas wars such as the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War.

In the eyes of political psychologists, patriotism, a concept defined by Webster’s dictionary as “love and devotion to one’s country,” is not as simple as it sounds.

Internally: Absolute obedience or reserve criticism?

More and more researchers realize that patriotism is not a single-dimensional variable, but a mixture of multiple values, emotional appeals and behavioral expressions. Researchers such as Robert T. Schatz of Metropolitan State College of Denver and Ervin Staub of the University of Massachusetts Amherst used factor analysis (Editor's note: a statistical method) method to It is found that patriotism can be divided into two types: blind patriotism and constructive patriotism.

The main difference between the two is whether to accept criticism of the country. The former emphasizes unwavering loyalty to the country. Their philosophy is: "No matter whether my country is right or wrong, I will support it." The latter, although equally active in supporting the country, is based on criticism - "I oppose some American policies because I care about our country." country and hope to improve it.”

Both types of patriotism show love and identification with the country (blind patriotism is even stronger), but both involve political understanding and recognition. There is a big difference in behavior. Blind patriotism shows stronger information selectivity. Because the mainstream media in the United States has a lot of negative comments about the country, blind patriotism tends to avoid them. Faced with both pro-American and anti-American article titles, they are more willing to read the former, while constructive patriotism makes no such difference. Moreover, blind patriots recognize more symbolic and emotional patriotic behaviors. For them, for the same amount of money, it is more important for children to learn to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school or to repair a national monument than to let children learn the operation of government systems or repair a national highway.

Constructive patriotism shows more active political participation. On the one hand, they have richer political knowledge and are more knowledgeable about issues such as "tenures of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives" and "U.S. foreign policy in Central America in the 1980s." On the one hand, they are more willing to spend time absorbing political information. Constructive patriots are also more willing to participate in political activities, such as writing letters to elected officials and signing petitions. They also have a greater sense of efficacy and believe that through their own efforts, they can make changes in this country.

External relations: Acceptance or hostility?

Another difference in patriotism is whether one has a hostile attitude toward outside groups. Research by Schatz and others found that blind patriots are more likely to agree that the United States is vulnerable to attack by foreign forces and are also worried that the United States will be contaminated by foreign cultures.

There are also researchers who directly use the terms nationalism and patriotism. Research by Thomas Blank of the University of Münster in Germany and Peter Schmidt of the University of Giessen concluded that the country in the minds of nationalists is ideal. They respect the authority of the state and emphasize the internal consistency of their own group. He believes that "our country is the best country in the world" and is proud of the country's success in international competitions. Patriots, on the other hand, acknowledge that the country still has flaws and tolerate dissatisfaction and criticism of the country. They are more likely to be proud of the country's good social security system and political participation. They are open to alternative perspectives when reconstructing ethnic history.

This survey of Germans found that both nationalism and patriotism reflect a high sense of national identity. But their attitudes towards foreign groups and ethnic minorities are different. Regarding foreigners, people with high nationalistic tendencies do not recommend intermarriage between foreigners and natives, hope to prohibit foreigners from participating in the country's political activities, and do not want foreigners to take away their own people's jobs. Their attitudes towards minorities such as Jews are also unfriendly. Patriots, on the other hand, are more tolerant of both foreigners and Jews. This is also consistent with the values ??they promote - a democratic society where all groups are respected and protected.

Linda J. Skitka of the University of Illinois at Chicago also discovered the difference between patriotism and nationalism by studying the behavior of 605 Americans displaying the flag after the 9/11 incident.

Along with people displaying the national flag in their homes, cars or on their clothes, people are actively donating blood, donating to charity organizations and other behaviors to increase the well-being of the group, rather than to outside groups, such as new immigrants, Palestinians or Muslims. Further exclusion.

“Even under threats such as terrorist attacks, patriotism and concern for the in-group need not go hand in hand with nationalism and derogation of the out-group,” Skiatka wrote in the study. arrive.

Further research is still needed

However, research on patriotism is far from over. Researchers do not agree on the structure of patriotism and the meaning of each dimension, and some data do not perfectly support this two-dimensional model. For example, in Bronk and Smit's model, the data show that nationalism and patriotism are still somewhat correlated and cannot be completely separated.

In addition, the academic community still needs more cross-cultural research to verify whether the two-dimensional model of patriotism is universally applicable in multiple cultural backgrounds. A study from the University of Cologne in Germany across 34 countries and regions found that patriotism does have two dimensions: nationalism and constructive patriotism, but there are slight differences in the specific connotations of the two in different countries.

The next time you are discussing something like patriotism with someone, it’s best to be clear: “What kind of patriotism are you talking about?”