Symposium:
Accessing the “political” in socio-historical
context
Convenor:
Peter Weinreich
Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Ulster
Director, Identity Exploration Ltd, www.identityexploration.com
Conference:
Tearing Down the Walls: Rethinking the Political in Political Psychology
Centre for Research in Political Psychology, Queen's University Belfast
Thursday 15 April 2010
Symposium:
Accessing the “political” in socio-historical context
Primordialist and situationalist perspectives on nationality in
Beijing students
Stephen Ewart, Identity Exploration Ltd, UK
Reference to earlier comparative study:
 Weinreich, P. , Bacova, V., & Rougier, N (2003) Basic
primordialism in ethnic and national identity. In
Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) Analysing Identity:
Cross Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. London:
Routledge & Psychology Press. Chapter 3.
A Beijing home
is where the
hearth is?
translate.google.com (english -> simplified chinese)
一个北京的家是哪里的壁炉是什么？
translate.google.com (simplified chinese->english)
A Beijing home is where the fireplace is what?
“Home is where the hearth is”
“Home is where you hang you hat”
Primordialist
Situationalist
Asking questions
Getting results
Primordialists
Situationalists
Finding answers
At home
Primordialists
Situationalists
Primordialism
Inheritance from ancestors
And abroad
Situationalists
Primordialists
Primordialism
Duty of care for descendents
并进一步在国外
translate.google.com (simplified chinese->english)
And further overseas
Scores
Scores
Primordialists would prefer to think people behave
the same most of the time.
Currently though, they tend to think people
flip based on circumstances
Scores
Situationalist would prefer to think people’s national
sentiments are geniune.
Currently though, they tend to think national
sentiment masks selfish motives
Entities
Self Entities
Self Entities
Primordialists are more
likely to view the world in
black and white terms
Primordialists also tend to
evaluate themselves more
positively favourably
Other Entities
Other Entities
Primordialists evaluated their parents more
positively than Situationalists
Other Entities
Situationalists evaluated how their perceived their
children to be when grown up more positively than
Primordialists
Other Entities
Primordialist evaluated Chinese people and the China
Communist party positively
Situationalists were ambivalent about both
Other Entities
The opposite was true of Westerners
Situationalist evaluated them positively while
Primordialists were ambivalent
Constructs
Construct
Situationalists less
convinced about their
atheism
Construct
The notion of striving for
things in life is more
significant for Situationalists
Construct
Situationalists favour the
security in conforming to
tradition but without
conviction
Situationalists have firmer
convictions than
Primordialists regarding
being open to change
Construct
Both Primordialists and
Situationalists endorse the
idea of being loyal to the
country over ancestry...
... though
Situationalists are
more wary
Construct
Both Primordialists and
Situationalists endorse the
idea that a common
national language is
essential...
... though Primordialists
see this idea as more
significant than
Situationalists, and have
move conviction behind it
Construct
Primordialists
Continuing the nation
in future generations
Situationalists
Adaptable to being
any nationality
Identifications
Identifications
Primordialists identified
more with their parents
Parents evaluated more
positively
So less identification
conflict
Identifications
Primordialists identified
more with Chinese
people in general and the
China Communionist
party
Identifications
Situationalists identified more strongly with
Westerners than did Primordialists
Summary
Two stances on nationality...
Primordialism
Situationalism
...with consistent absolute identity processes...
Differing greyness of overall world view
Appropriate convictions and conflicts with sentiments
Identification with appropriate political stances
Identification, or lack thereof, with lineage
...but with different proximate patterns
Northern Ireland:
Primordialism stems from past lineage
Situationalism focused on current government
Slovakia:
Primordialism stems from future lineage
Situationalism focused on outgoing government
China:
Primordialism stems from present generation
Situationalism focused on other nations
Questions?
Future work
Individualism vs Collectivism?
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/differences_between_eastern_an.html