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Eötvös Loránd University Academic Year 2007/2008 Spring Semester
Varieties of National Thought and Sentiment in Europe
Research Seminar
Instructors György Csepeli Antal Örkény
Time Friday, 8.15-9.45. am
Scope Students will work with two databases stemming from the ISSP research on national identity carried out in 1996 and 2003. Three clusters of European countries will be included into the analysis: Core EU members, late comer members who have joined in 2004 and countries which have become members between 1957 and 2004. Having been introduced into contemporary theories of nationalism students will be taught to operationalize major variables of national thought and sentiment. Based on methods of multiple regression analysis, path analysis patterns of nationalist mind will be analyzed with a special emphasis on comparison between regions of Europe. Investigation into xenophobia and European identity will conclude the first part of the seminar. The second part will deal with contextual analysis which aims at to explore the impact of economic, cultural and sociological factors on structure and content of national identity in various countries of Europe.
Method and requirementsStudents registered for this course must attend classes and participate in class discussions. For each week there are certain common readings that all students must read in preparation. The weekly class work is going to be organized through the Coospace system. Week by week selected datafiles and special homeworks connected to the weekly topics will be available in the Coospace. The short homeworks are also collected and evaluated through the system. Between class meetings Coospace gives broad opportunities for individual tutoring and team discussions. Students signed up for the course are required to have a basic knowledge of SPSS PC. Knowledge of the basic literature on nationalism is also supposed.
Grading and evaluationSemester work Each student will be required to complete homework on a weekly base Final Students of this class will have to write a paper investigating an empirical problem raised by the ISSP questionnaire. Students can work either individually or in small working groups not exceeding in size 2 members. Each individual or group will have to finalize a paper. The topic of the paper should be approved by the instructors. The length of the paper is 7-8 pages per capita. Deadline of the final papers is May 20, 2008. class activity, homework and presentations 60 % final paper 40 %
Readings Balakrishnan, G., Anderson, B. (Eds.) 1996. Mapping the nation. London: Verso Csepeli, Gy., Örkény, A., Székely, M. 2000. Grappling with National Identity. How nations see each other in Central Europe. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó Csepeli, Gy. 1997. National identity in contemporary Hungary. Social Science Monographs, Atlantic Research and Publications Inc. Highland Lakes, NJ. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Eley, g., Suny, R.G.(Eds.) 1996. Becoming National. A reader. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hagendoorn, L., Csepeli, Gy., Dekker, H., Farnen, R. 2000. European Nations and Nationalism. Theoretical and historical perspectives. Aldershot: Ashgate. Hutchinson, J., Smith, A. (eds.) 1994. Nationalism. Oxford reader. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Leersen, J. 2006. National Thought in Europe. A cultural history. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Örkény, A. Székelyi, M. Csepeli, Gy.- Poór, J. Várhalmi, Z. (2007) Nemzeti érzés és európai identitás, Budapest: Arktisz – Balassi
Schedule
Cultural, political and sociological theories of nationalism will be discussed. Problems of continuity and discontinuity of national categorization will be raised with special emphasize on the stock of knowledge of national identity.
Values of modernity such as property, equality and freedom have expanded through Europe in various places. Institutions of modernity such as market, nation state, and class followed. As a consequence three regions of Europe emerged.
As a basic intergroup syndrome related to the ingroup-outgroup dichotomy ethnocentrism can be considered as root of national affiliation. Student will be introduced into the operationalization of the variables . HOMEWORK: analyzing ethnocentrist items from the questionnaire and interpreting country differences.
National pride is the central element of national identity. Two varieties of national pride can be distinguished, however. Both versions will be constructed and analyzed. HOMEWORK: sources of pride in national anthems, qualitative analysis
Nationalism can be expressed by cultural, economic and political contents. Measures of nationalism will be constructed on the basis of Likert scales. HOMEWORK: analyzing nationalism items from the cross national questionnaire (or) nationalism as an ideology represented by themes on postal stamps
National identity embraces many aspects of national categorization such as citizenship, descent, mother tongue, cultural familiarity etc. On the basis of this diversity various models of national identity will be investigated. HOMEWORK: quantitative cross-country analysis of national identity
Fear of strangers has always been a concomitant of human condition. The presence of strangers in nation states causes xenophobia, which takes the form of welfare chauvinism. Paths leading to xenophobia will be discussed. HOMEWORK: comparing the strength of xenophobia in Europe: a quantitative analysis
What is common among the various people living in Europe? Is there any process of psychological unification? What are the institutions fostering and promoting these processes? HOMEWORK: Contextualization of the macro level country differences in Europe: statistical data collection
Minorities of migrant citizens and non-citizens will be analyzed. HOMEWORK: migration into and inside Europe: statistical approach (or) analyzing the migrant sub sample from the ISSP surveys (1995, 2003)
Contextual analysis of nationalism will be carried out. Is there any relationship between measures of economic growth and measures of national affiliation? HOMEWORK: Contextual interpretation of the country and regional differences in Europe: a quantitative analysis.
Social status and national identity has clear relationship with each other. Less obvious is the relationship between nationalism and social stratification which will be investigated by means of contextual analysis. HOMEWORK: Status effects and cognitive factors explaining nationalism in different regions of Europe (1995, 2003)
Possible effects of social inequalities on nationalism will be analyzed across Europe.
Final paper topics
- Variations of national identity by regions or country clusters - European identity in the making - Inclusion and exclusion: migrants and natives - Micro (individual) and macro (collective) effects on nationalism - Xenophobia: structural vs. cognitive explanations
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