Research Paper write up

David Sibrian

Professor Andrews

PSC 2410

14 November 2019

Nationalism Survey 

Introduction

In the Political Psychology class the group that I was assigned had to create a survey where we had to ask people multiple questions about the effects of nationalism and how it is perceived in society. Many of these questions compared which phrases can be seen as patriotic or if they are seen as nationalistic. The main purpose of the group was see how society sees or have feelings towards nationalism and can if they distinguish what is the difference between being nationalistic and patriotic. I will be presenting how the survey was conducted, the results of the survey, who was the target audience, and the data that came from the survey that the group conducted, and also the background information on Nationalism and Patriotism. The hypothesis that I formed is will people perceive pro-American sentiment as nationalistic or patriotic?

Review of Literature

The sense of Nationalism is more of a modern concept that goes back to essentially the rise of nation states. Prior to the first World Wars nationalism was on the rise especially with the rise of Napoleon’s ascension and his plan to conquer the European continent. Nationalism was also seen in the First and Second World Wars, first with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which sparked World War I and in World War II the rise of state leaders such as Adolf Hitler of the German Nazi Party and Benito Mussolini leader of the Italian Fascist Party. Currently we see a rise of nationalism today, many Americans see President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or “American First” movements as nationalistic while some people see the movement as patriotic since they think that it is trying to put the American interest first again. 

The 2016 United States election was one of the most controversial elections the country has had in its recent history since it was the unexpected victory of now President Donald Trump. Since Trump’s election he has been the leading force of movements that are called by mainstream media as nationalistic, movements such as Make America Great Again or also known as MAGA and the America First movement as well. These nationalistic movements have been under serious scrutiny by the mainstream media which usually highlight people who are on the far right. There are other people who would also disagree that these movements are bad, many Americans think being nationalistic or patriotic is a good thing since they are having pride of their country. In this literature review I will be focusing on the rise of movements such as MAGA and America First and also the recent rise of American nationalism since the 2016 election.

Make America Great Again and the rise of nationalism

The phrase “Make America Great Again” was a campaign slogan that held weight that was known all throughout the 2016 election. It was the forefront of something that was potentially hidden during the Obama administration and seen as something that only the far right was known for. Even the term “nationalism” was not used as much especially defining the President of the United States. Baker (2018) describes for the one of the first times where Trump is proud of being called a nationalist, “You know what I am? I am a nationalist O.K.? I’m a nationalist. Nationalist! Use that word! Use that word!” Trump’s acceptance of nationalism has given rise to other groups that have been seen as extreme or how society views it as supremacy groups. Nationalism did not start with Trump first or with his America first policies. Nationalism has been seen all throughout modern history and was even one of the main reasons why the world went into both World Wars.

The history of nationalism

Nationalism as a concept was been active in history in modern times which led to many of the biggest atrocities in history. Boot (2018) goes into depth about the history of nationalism and how it played a huge role on how Europe, eventually the United States, went into to two major wars recorded in modern history. He highlights specific examples such as “the Serbian Black Hand, which was behind the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand.” Nationalism was also seen in a good light because many of the leaders of independence movements since the 19th century to the movements of the 20th that wanted full independence from the countries they were under. Nationalism, in history, have had both sides, there were people from the bad side that did horrible things in the name of nationalism, but there were leaders who also did good things like give their country independence from foreign powers.

Methods

Our research group overall had the same method to conduct this survey but each individually would implement it in their own way. For example, we essentially focused on people that we knew in our individual lives. Two of my group members focused on people who were either friends or were either coworkers from their occupations. Personally, I also focused on my friends that go to different universities or junior colleges with a couple of friends that also go to Notre Dame as well. One of the major differences that I also did was that I asked people that went to the same church as I did. Many people of church are also college students but I was also able to ask people who did not go to college, or they were immigrants themselves. I also included family members as well, both of my parents are immigrants and I told them to take it independently from each other. The intended population are largely a representation of college students that go to different schools or those who already graduated, schools like UC Davis, San Francisco State University etc. While my other group members did have a higher success rate in being able to conduct the survey with a higher number of people I was not really that lucky with having a lot of people take my survey. 

The survey itself is a pretty much straight forward survey with not that difficult questions and it did not take that long to complete. The survey only consisted of 9 questions which again were pretty straightforward. All of the survey takers were able to complete the questions and all of the surveys were done in a short amount of time. There were a small group of people who did have some difficulty in responding specifically question number 5 mainly because the way that the question was structured which made it somewhat confusing. Most of the questions were personal opinion based as in what would one think of some the phrases that most people would think it to be as nationalistic. 

Results

The results to the survey was also something that was somewhat surprising as well and I do kind of see it as a reflection of how society perceives nationalism and how they perceive nationalistic movements. The results show that the majority of the people who have taken our quiz were first generation hispanic democrats. The second majority are white/caucasian, second generation, and who also identify as Independents for their political association. The first question that was asked was if the survey taker was proud of this country. The results show that 78.66% of people who answered that question is proud of this country, while 21.35% are not proud of this country. The second question asked if both documented and undocumented immigrants are able to be patriotic in which 79.45% chose yes on the question and a small majority of  20.45% say no to the question.  

In another question 38.20% say that the phrase “I love my country” is a patriotic phrase while 31.46% of takers say that it is both nationalistic and patriotic and 30.34% have shared that the phrase is nationalistic. There is also a majority of people who do see nationalism in a negative light as well. 34.83% of takers believe that nationalism is a threat while 31.46% strongly believe that nationalism is a threat. Lastly, 71.91% of people believe that the phrase “Make America Great Again” is nationalistic while 28.09% do not see it as nationalistic. 

The results that was produced by the survey clearly shows a major difference of opinion when it comes to certain topics on the survey. For example there is a different sense of perception to what makes a phrase nationalistic or patriotic. Also what I found surprising about these results is that people find it patriotic or have a approval of this country, when in other surveys people have actually not felt proud to be in this country or have had negative sentiments towards this country. Another surprising thing that I got from the results was that even though the survey takers did not find it nationalistic when they answered that they were proud of being in this country. 

Analysis

The analysis reflects what our intended purpose was for conducting this survey which, again, was to see how society sees nationalism and if they can distinguish if some statements are nationalistic or if they patriotic. Question 6 was truly surprising in this aspect of the analysis because it shows that 79.55% of the survey takers believe that you can be patriotic despite your immigration status. This is very different from what society usually thinks on who can be patriotic or nationalistic. It is usually mainstream society that thinks that only documented immigrants or natural born Americans can fit the description of being patriotic or nationalistic. Yet they also see the difference of nationalism and patriotism in how it can also affect them or how it can affect them as a community. Majority of the survey takers think that nationalism is a threat to society which also fits the thinking of mainstream society. 

Conclusion

Many people have different opinions of patriotism and nationalism, these two ways of thinking are not anything new since it has been precedented throughout modern history. The main purpose of our survey was to see how people felt about the new wave of nationalism that has been essentially started ever since President Trump was elected in 2016. There were a number of limitations that came when conducting the survey. First, my work schedule can be very limiting especially when conducting a survey and also be a productive group member. Second, I went to conduct the survey in Redwood City which I believe even there is diversity in the city, I don’t think there is a diversity of thought. Redwood City is predominantly democrat so I do not think there would be any difference to their answers when you ask them if they feel patriotic about their country. Lastly, I think what I could have done better is maybe not only conduct the survey in one spot but maybe in different cities, maybe I could have 10 people from 3 cities nearby take the survey and that could have brought diverse answers.

References 

Baker, Peter. “'Use That Word!': Trump Embraces the 'Nationalist' Label.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/us/politics/nationalist-president-trump.html.

Boot, Max. “Opinion | Donald Trump Embraces 'Nationalism' of the Worst Kind.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/10/25/donald-trump-embraces-nationalism-of-the-worst-kind/.