Longing for the good old days of ‘our country’: Understanding the triggers, functions and consequences of national nostalgia

Research indicates that national nostalgia thrives across the world and is harnessed by populist radical-right parties (PRRPs) to mobilize people for their exclusionary standpoints. While national nostalgia is a timely issue, the topic has only recently started to get attention in social psychology. In this chapter, I investigate the triggers, functions and consequences of national nostalgia for present day group dynamics by integrating social psychological theories on intergroup relations, group-based emotions, and identity motivation with sociological and anthropological work on collective nostalgia and political scientific research on PRRPs. I demonstrate that, on the one hand, national nostalgia can be seen as functional and constructive for native majority members, in the sense that it helps them protect to national identity continuity in times of uncertainty and change. On the other hand, national nostalgia can be seen as a destructive force, as it results in exclusionary understandings of national identity based on historical roots and in antiimmigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments. I demonstrate that the stronger endorsement of this nativist ideology forms an important explanation for why national nostalgia is related to a greater likelihood of PRRP voting in the Netherlands

National nostalgia: A group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations

Social psychological research on nostalgia has mainly considered this emotion at the individual level rather than the group level. The current paper proposes that group-based nostalgia for the nation (i.e., national nostalgia) is likely to be related to a positive in-group orientation and a negative out-group orientation, because it fosters an exclusionary and essentialist sense of national identity that is based on ancestry and common descent (i.e., ethnic national identity). This prediction was tested in three survey studies. Study 1 was conducted among a broad sample of the native Dutch population, and demonstrated that national (and not personal) nostalgia is positively related to national in-group identification and out-group prejudice. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 among a nationally representative sample of the native Dutch population, and provided support for the mediation by ethnic national identity. Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2 and additionally demonstrated that national nostalgia positively predicts tendencies to protect national in-group identity, via a stronger sense of ethnic national identity. These findings demonstrate the potential of group-based nostalgia to have positive and negative consequences for group dynamics at the same time

Longing for the good old days of ‘our country’: Understanding the triggers, functions and consequences of national nostalgia

Research indicates that national nostalgia thrives across the world and is harnessed by populist radical-right parties (PRRPs) to mobilize people for their exclusionary standpoints. While national nostalgia is a timely issue, the topic has only recently started to get attention in social psychology. In this chapter, I investigate the triggers, functions and consequences of national nostalgia for present day group dynamics by integrating social psychological theories on intergroup relations, group-based emotions, and identity motivation with sociological and anthropological work on collective nostalgia and political scientific research on PRRPs. I demonstrate that, on the one hand, national nostalgia can be seen as functional and constructive for native majority members, in the sense that it helps them protect to national identity continuity in times of uncertainty and change. On the other hand, national nostalgia can be seen as a destructive force, as it results in exclusionary understandings of national identity based on historical roots and in antiimmigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments. I demonstrate that the stronger endorsement of this nativist ideology forms an important explanation for why national nostalgia is related to a greater likelihood of PRRP voting in the Netherlands

The presence of the past. Historical rooting of national identity and current group dynamics

The historicization of national identity has become a focal point in Western European debates on cultural diversity, immigration and European integration. In various countries, including the Netherlands, there has been a renewed emphasis on national heritage and traditions in debates about the presence and influence of Muslim immigrants and European unification. Politicians have argued that people lack a sense of collective consciousness and belonging (see Duyvendak, 2011) and that greater knowledge of national history would strengthen the cohesiveness of Western European societies. In Dutch debates on national identity and cultural diversity the national past is put forward as a means to define who ‘we’ are as a national community, and what it means to be a national citizen. These public debates raise new questions about the consequences of this historical rooting of national citizenship for current group dynamics in culturally diverse settings. In this dissertation, I take a social psychological perspective and analyze how different temporal understandings of national identity affect current group dynamics among native majority members in the Netherlands. The main aims of this project are to examine the extent to which temporal understandings of national identity among natives affect their (1) identification with the nation, and (2) their evaluation of out-groups and other social developments that potentially undermine national identity. First, the results of the empirical chapters of this book suggest that a sense of national group and national self-continuity are important for natives’ identification with the nation, but also make them more likely to engage in defensive reactions towards out-groups (i.e., Muslim immigrants) and social developments (i.e., European integration) that potentially undermine national continuity. Second, national nostalgia was considered as a different form of national identity temporality and it was found that this sentimental feeling for the good old days of the country made natives more negative about Muslim immigrants, because it strengthened their belief in ownership of the country on the basis of their status as primo-occupants. Third, I analyzed two historical representations of national identity that figure prominently in Dutch discourses on cultural diversity, namely that of (1) being a nation rooted in Christian heritage, and (2) being a nation rooted in a tradition of religious tolerance and openness. It was found that the Christian representation can mobilize lower national identifiers and younger people (age 18-35) to become more negative about Muslim immigrants. Finally, it was shown that the religious tolerant representation makes natives more positive about Muslim immigrants, particularly those who strongly identify with the nation (i.e., higer identifiers). These findings highlight the importance of identity temporality for national self-understandings and for the analysis of intergroup dynamics. Native majority members draw on the national past to understand ‘who we are’, and this subsequently informs their attitudes towards social developments in the present. As such, analyzing the presence of the past is important for understanding national identity and group dynamics in contemporary multicultural Western European societies

The presence of the past. Historical rooting of national identity and current group dynamics

The historicization of national identity has become a focal point in Western European debates on cultural diversity, immigration and European integration. In various countries, including the Netherlands, there has been a renewed emphasis on national heritage and traditions in debates about the presence and influence of Muslim immigrants and European unification. Politicians have argued that people lack a sense of collective consciousness and belonging (see Duyvendak, 2011) and that greater knowledge of national history would strengthen the cohesiveness of Western European societies. In Dutch debates on national identity and cultural diversity the national past is put forward as a means to define who ‘we’ are as a national community, and what it means to be a national citizen. These public debates raise new questions about the consequences of this historical rooting of national citizenship for current group dynamics in culturally diverse settings. In this dissertation, I take a social psychological perspective and analyze how different temporal understandings of national identity affect current group dynamics among native majority members in the Netherlands. The main aims of this project are to examine the extent to which temporal understandings of national identity among natives affect their (1) identification with the nation, and (2) their evaluation of out-groups and other social developments that potentially undermine national identity. First, the results of the empirical chapters of this book suggest that a sense of national group and national self-continuity are important for natives’ identification with the nation, but also make them more likely to engage in defensive reactions towards out-groups (i.e., Muslim immigrants) and social developments (i.e., European integration) that potentially undermine national continuity. Second, national nostalgia was considered as a different form of national identity temporality and it was found that this sentimental feeling for the good old days of the country made natives more negative about Muslim immigrants, because it strengthened their belief in ownership of the country on the basis of their status as primo-occupants. Third, I analyzed two historical representations of national identity that figure prominently in Dutch discourses on cultural diversity, namely that of (1) being a nation rooted in Christian heritage, and (2) being a nation rooted in a tradition of religious tolerance and openness. It was found that the Christian representation can mobilize lower national identifiers and younger people (age 18-35) to become more negative about Muslim immigrants. Finally, it was shown that the religious tolerant representation makes natives more positive about Muslim immigrants, particularly those who strongly identify with the nation (i.e., higer identifiers). These findings highlight the importance of identity temporality for national self-understandings and for the analysis of intergroup dynamics. Native majority members draw on the national past to understand ‘who we are’, and this subsequently informs their attitudes towards social developments in the present. As such, analyzing the presence of the past is important for understanding national identity and group dynamics in contemporary multicultural Western European societies

National nostalgia : A group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations

Social psychological research on nostalgia has mainly considered this emotion at the individual level rather than the group level. The current paper proposes that group-based nostalgia for the nation (i.e., national nostalgia) is likely to be related to a positive in-group orientation and a negative out-group orientation, because it fosters an exclusionary and essentialist sense of national identity that is based on ancestry and common descent (i.e., ethnic national identity). This prediction was tested in three survey studies. Study 1 was conducted among a broad sample of the native Dutch population, and demonstrated that national (and not personal) nostalgia is positively related to national in-group identification and out-group prejudice. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 among a nationally representative sample of the native Dutch population, and provided support for the mediation by ethnic national identity. Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2 and additionally demonstrated that national nostalgia positively predicts tendencies to protect national in-group identity, via a stronger sense of ethnic national identity. These findings demonstrate the potential of group-based nostalgia to have positive and negative consequences for group dynamics at the same time

The presence of the past: Identity continuity and group dynamics

Social psychologists are increasingly interested in the temporal dimensions of social life and in identity continuity in particular. Focusing on ethnicity and national identity we discuss the implications of perceived group continuity and collective self-continuity, and their interplay, for group dynamics. Using the social identity perspective and theories of identity motivation, we show, first, that the need for collective self-continuity forms a unique motivational basis for group identification. Second, we demonstrate that people are more likely to derive a sense of collective self-continuity from groups that are seen as relatively stable and immutable over time (i.e., essentialist in-groups). Third, we find that existential threats to group identity strengthen a sense of collective self-continuity, which, in turn, increases in-group defence mechanisms in the form of negative attitudes towards immigrant out-groups and towards social developments that potentially undermine in-group continuity. Fourth, we discuss empirical findings that indicate that group-based nostalgia for the nation is an identity management strategy in response to in-group continuity threats and that nostalgia leads to immigrant out-group exclusion

Collective self-continuity, group identification and in-group defense

The present research tested the proposition that the sense of self-continuity that people derive from their group membership provides a basis for group identification and drives in-group defensive reactions in the context of identity threat. This proposition was examined in three studies, using the context of national identity. Study 1 found that collective self-continuity uniquely and strongly predicted national identification, when controlling for other identity motives. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that existential threats to national identity particularly increase a sense of collective self-continuity, compared to other identity motives, and that this enhanced sense of collective selfcontinuity results in stronger in-group defense in the form of opposition towards out-groups (Study 2) and social developments (Study 3) that may undermine group identity, as well as in stronger in-group protectionism (Study 3). Taken together, these findings indicate that collective selfcontinuity is an important motive for group identification and in-group defense in the context of identity threat