Relationship of living historical memories and news source with national identity: A latent class analysis

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that national identity is associated with one's memory of the nation's past (i.e., historical events) and current information received from mass media. This study tied these two areas of research to examine if narratives of historical memory, the valence of those memories, and preferred media use/news sources (traditional vs. digital) would be associated with national identity, trust in government, and system justification. Data were obtained through the Digital Influence II Survey-Hong Kong region. Participants were asked to recall three historical events that had the greatest impact on their country and to report the valence of their evaluation of those events. Using latent class analysis, a two-class structure (superordinate group focus vs. subgroup focus memory) was identified from participants' historical narratives. For participants in the superordinate group focus, valence on the historical memories was positively associated with trust in government, system justification, and national identity. The use of traditional media (over digital media) predicted higher trust in government and system justification, but not national identity. Implications regarding recent protests in Hong Kong, tightening media control, and social movements on social media are discussed.

If the past weighs on the present, then the present also weighs on the past: Collective remembering as an open system for human science

“…Consistent with the previous study about the Philippines, Li et al (2021) found in a study of Hong Kong Chinese living historical memory (LHM; see that the mass communication medium carried implications for the message people received. In both societies, Internet-based mass media carried a message that could be regarded as subversive to official national accounts.…”

Living historical memory: Associations with national identity, social dominance orientation, and system justification in 40 countries.

“…Deeper analyses of LHM for particular countries (e.g., Bou Zeineddine & Qumseya, in press; Li, Lin, & Maer, in press), and an overall content analysis (Choi et al, under review) suggest that there is no single “master narrative” knitting together the nominations in most societies. In some communication contexts, like Hong Kong (where there is the salient context of protest against Beijing), certain configurations of historical events were linked to anti-governmental points of view (Li, Lin, & Maer, in press). In others, like Morocco (where there is a stable monarchy) they were connected to greater system support (Bou Zeineddine & Qumseya, in press).…”

“…But there should be limits to the state’s ability to curate sympathetic collective remembering of events entering into living historical memory. These are constructed via multiple channels, only some of which are controlled by the state: see Li, Lin, and Maer’s (in press) study of social media and dissident LHM in Hong Kong. Scholars investigating officially sanctioned, top-down memories manufactured by the state tend to focus on the production of a “suitable past” without providing evidence of how these productions are received by their intended audiences.…”

Something Old, Something New: Finnish Living Historical Memory in the 2010s

“…The data on living historical memories obtained through the Digital Influence II Survey has been analyzed in several studies by using latent class analysis. Common to these studies (Bou Zeineddine & Qumseya, 2020; Li et al., 2020; Vincze et al., in press) is the finding of a two-class structure characterizing living historical memory. In the present study, a different type of analysis was employed.…”