Patriotism and Nationalism

Abstract

George Washington cautioned Americans about patriotism in his Farewell Address: “A fire not to be quenched, it [patriotism] demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.” There has been a resurgence of patriotism and nationalism in the United States since 9/11 and the ensuing war on terrorism, which increased a sense of fear and vulnerability in Americans. As Unger (2006) noted: “The events of September 11 were closely followed by enhanced perceptions of oneness with other Americans and a decline in perception of similarity to other people.…This pattern of enhanced ingroup identification and disparagement of outgroups is characteristic of nationalism and some forms of patriotism” (p. 83). Christie (2006) wrote “a nationalistic climate was further inflamed by the rhetoric of the US president” (p. 33), mentioning that Bush did not distinguish patriotism from nationalism. This climate resulted in aggression against those identified as threatening us and negative feelings and actions toward those not with us.

In search of significant differences: The odyssey of an intercultural peace builder.

“…Other publications that had resulted from colleagues' invitations included entries for two social science encyclopedias, one on Bronfenbrenner's mirror image perception (Kimmel, 2010) and the other on patriotism and nationalism (Kimmel, 2012). In 2012, the piece on ethnocultural empathy I had coauthored appeared in the Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology (Suffla & Kimmel, 2012).…”