Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T01:48:42.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Do Patriotism and Multiculturalism Collide? Competing Perspectives from Canada and the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2012

Jack Citrin*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Richard Johnston*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Matthew Wright*
Affiliation:
American University
*
Jack Citrin, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Political Science, 790 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1950, email: [email protected].
Richard Johnston, University of British Columbia, Department of Political Science, C425-1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, email: [email protected].
Matthew Wright, American University, Department of Government, Ward Circle Building, Room 230, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, email: [email protected].

Abstract

Abstract. The relationship of national identifications to preferences about immigration is a subject of empirical controversy. The hypothesis we explore here through a comparison of Canada and the United States is that the normative content of national identity—how people define the meaning of patriotism in their country—mediates the relationship between national pride and sentiment about immigration and multiculturalism. How political elites construct what citizens should be proud of matters. In comparisons based on the 2003 International Social Survey Program's “National Identity Module,” Canadians seem more divided than Americans over their nationality and generally less chauvinist. Canadians are more receptive to maintaining the current level of immigration and see newcomers as less threatening to economic and cultural values. The relationship between identification with the country and support for immigration and multiculturalism diverges sharply between the countries: where in Canada the relationship is positive, in the US it is negative.

Résumé. Le lien entre l'identification à la nation et les préférences quant à l'immigration est un sujet de controverse. À travers une comparaison du Canada et des Etats-Unis, l'hypothèse que nous explorons ici est que le contenu normatif de l'identité nationale, c'est-à-dire le sens donné par la population au patriotisme envers leur pays, joue un rôle intermédiaire dans la relation entre la fierté nationale et les sentiments vis-à-vis l'immigration et le multiculturalisme. La façon dont les élites politiques construisent ce en quoi les citoyens devraient être fiers revêt donc une importance particulière. À titre comparatif, en se basant sur le « Module Identité Nationale » du International Social Survey Programme de 2003, les Canadiens semblent plus divisés que les Américains sur la signification de leur identité nationale et, de façon générale, sont moins chauvins. Les Canadiens sont également plus réceptifs à l'idée de maintenir l'immigration à son niveau actuel et voient les nouveaux arrivants comme étant moins menaçants pour leurs valeurs économiques et culturelles. La relation entre l'identification au pays et le support pour l'immigration et le multiculturalisme diverge nettement entre les deux pays. Alors qu'au Canada la relation est positive, aux Etats-Unis elle est négative.

Type
Symposium: Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Identity Politics in Canada and the United States
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almond, G.A. and Verba, S.. 1963. The Civic Culture. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities (Revised Edition). London, UK: Verso Books.Google Scholar
Banting, K.G., Johnston, R., Kymlicka, W. and Soroka, S.N.. 2006. “Do Multicultural Policies Erode the Welfare State?” In Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Societies, ed. Banting, K. and Kymlicka, W.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Banting, K.G. 2010. “Is There a Progressive's Dilemma in Canada? Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Welfare State.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 43: 797820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, B. 2002. Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bloemraad, I. 2006. Becoming a Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United States and Canada, Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bloemraad, I. 2011. “‘Two Peas in a Pod,’ ‘Apples to Oranges,’ and Other Food Metaphors: Comparing Canada and the United States.” American Behavioral Scientist 55: 1131–59.Google Scholar
Brubaker, R. 1992. Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brubaker, R. 2004. “In the Name of the Nation: Reflections on Nationalism and Patriotism.” Citizenship Studies 8: 115–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Citrin, J., Reingold, B. and Green, D.P.. 1990. “American Identity and the Politics of Ethnic Change.” Journal of Politics 52: 11241154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Citrin, J., Wong, C. and Duff, B.. 2001. “The Meaning of American National Identity: Patterns of Ethnic Conflict and Consensus.” In Social Identity, Intergroup Conflict and Conflict Reduction, ed. Ashmore, R.D. and Jussim, L.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Citrin, J. and Sears, D. O.. 2009. “Balancing National and Ethnic Identities: The Psychology of E Pluribus Unum.” In Measuring Identity: A Guide For Social Scientists, ed. Abdelal, R., Herrera, Y.M., Johnston, A.I., and McDermott, R.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crepaz, M. 2008. Trust Beyond Borders: Immigration, the Welfare State, and Identity in Modern Societies. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
De Figueiredo, R.J.P. and Elkins, Z.. 2003. “Are Patriots Bigots? An Inquiry into the Vices of In-Group Pride.” American Journal of Political Science 47: 171–88.Google Scholar
Fuchs, L. 1990. The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture Hanover NH: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Gellner, E. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Gitlin, T. 1995. The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Greenfeld, L. 1992. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Huddy, L. and Khatib, N.. 2007. “American Patriotism, National Identity, and Political Involvement.” American Journal of Political Science 51: 6377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, S.P. 2004. Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Igartua, J.E. 2006. The Other Quiet Revolution: National Identities in English Canada, 1945–71. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Joppke, C. 2004. “The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy.” British Journal of Sociology 55: 237–57.Google Scholar
Kosterman, R. and Feshbach, S.. 1989. “Toward a Measure of Patriotic and Nationalistic Attitudes.” Political Psychology 10: 257–74.Google Scholar
Kunovich, R. 2009. “The Sources and Consequences of National Identification.” American Sociological Review 74: 573–93.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Labelle, M. 2008. “Les intellectuels québécois face au multiculturalisme: hétérogéneité des approches et des projets politiques.” Canadian Ethnic Studies 40: 3356.Google Scholar
Laforest, G. 1995. Trudeau and the End of a Canadian Dream. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, D. 1995. On Nationality. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, D. 2000. Citizenship and National Identity, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Miller, D. 2006. “Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Theoretical Reflections.” In Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies, ed. Banting, K. and Kymlicka, W.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parekh, B.C. 2006. Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Québec. Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d'accommodement reliées aux differences culturelles. 2008. Rapport final intégrale: Fonder l'avenir: Le temps de la conciliation. Québec.Google Scholar
Québec. 2008. Ministère de l'Immigration et des Communautés culturelles. 1981. Autant de façons d'être Québécois: Plan d'action à l'intention des communautés culturelles. Québec.Google Scholar
Rae, D.W. 1967. The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Schatz, R.T., Staub, E. and Levine, H.. 1999. “On the Varieties of National Attachment: Blind versus Constructive Patriotism.” Political Psychology 20: 151–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.M. 2003. Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, T.W. and Jarko, L.. 1998. National Pride: A Cross-National Analysis. Chicago IL: University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center.Google Scholar
Smith, T.W. and Kim, S.. 2006. “National Pride in Cross-National and Temporal Perspective.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 18: 127–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, C. 1992. Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Theiss-Morse, E. 2009. Who Counts as an American? The Boundaries of National Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Matthew. 2011. “Diversity and the Imagined Community: Immigrant Diversity and Conceptions of National Identity.” Political Psychology 32: 837–62.Google Scholar
Young, I.M. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar