Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

National Identity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

Introduction

National identity refers to a specific kind of collective feeling, i.e., a self-image or an understanding. As such, it can become part of peoples’ personal identities, too (their “sense of belonging”). An examination of “national identity” faces three challenges. Firstly, on an analytical level, its two constituent terms (nation, identity) are both broad, transdisciplinary, and controversial concepts, which are associated with additional concepts no less complex (e.g., nationalism, ethnicity, culture). Secondly, “national identity” is an expression not only in use in academic discourse but also in the political arena and in everyday discourse as well. Every academic enquiry has to keep this interplay in mind. Thirdly, nationalistic ideas have displayed chameleon-like qualities, and, over the course of time, found support among liberals, conservatives, Marxists, fascists, racists, imperialists, secessionists, anti-imperialists, and anti-colonialists, etc.

This entry looks...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson B (1991 [1983]) Imagined communities, 2nd edn. Verso, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong JA (1982) Nations before nationalism. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Balibar E, Wallerstein I (1991) Race, nation, Class: ambiguous identities. Verso, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Beiner R (ed) (1999) Theorizing nationalism. State University of New York Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig M (1995) Banal nationalism. SAGE, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourchard G (ed) (2013) National Myths. Constructed pasts, contested presents. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Breuilly J (1982) Nationalism and the state. Manchester University Press, Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun C (1997) Nationalism. Open University Press, Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee P (1986) Nationalist thought and the colonial world. Zed Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor W (1994) Ethnonationalism. The quest for understanding. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch K (1953) Nationalism and social communication: an inquiry into the foundations of nationality. Technology Press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellner E (1983) Nations and nationalism. Cornell University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall S (1996) Ethnicity: identity and difference. In: Eley G, Suny RG (eds) Becoming national. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 339–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen K, Marschelke JC (2017) Multikollektivität. Z Kultur Kollektivwissenschaft 3(1)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes C (1931) The historical evolution of modern nationalism. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm E, Ranger T (1983) The invention of tradition. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kedourie E (2002 [1960]) Nationalism, 4th edn. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn H (1944) The idea of nationalism: a study in its orgins and background. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kymlicka W (1999) Misunderstanding nationalism. In: Beiner R (ed) Theorizing nationalism. State University of New York Press, New York, pp 131–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Maleševic S (2006) Identity as ideology. Understanding ethnicity and nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Margalit A, Raz J (1990) National self-determination. J Philos 87(9):439–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller D (1995) On nationalism. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Özkırımlı U (2005) Contemporary debates on nationalism. A critical engagement. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Özkırımlı U (2017) Theories of nationalism. A critical introduction, 3rd edn. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Parekh B (1999) The incoherence of nationalism. In: Beiner R (ed) Theorizing nationalism. State University of New York Press, New York, pp 295–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Renan E (1990 [1887]) What is a nation? In: Bhaba H (ed) Nation and narration. Routledge, London, pp 8–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau JJ (1762) Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique. Marcel Michel Rey, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AD (1986) The ethnic origins of nations. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AD (2010) Nationalism: theory, ideology, history, 2nd edn. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamir Y (1993) Liberal nationalism. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor C (1989) Sources of the self. The making of modern identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer A (2013) Ethnic boundary making. Institutions. Power. Networks. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yuval-Davis N (1997) Gender and nation. SAGE, London

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for the Study of Culture and Collectivity, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Jan Marschelke

Authors
  1. Jan Marschelke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Marschelke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International & Comparative Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Mortimer Sellers

  2. Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, University of Salzburg, Austria, Salzburg, Austria

    Stephan Kirste

Section Editor information

  1. Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Tetsu Sakurai Ph.D

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature B.V.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Marschelke, J. (2021). National Identity. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_324-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_324-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6730-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6730-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation