Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Prologue
- 1 The Challenge of E Pluribus Unum
- 2 The Political Psychology of Identity Choice
- 3 Contours of American National Identity
- 4 The Ethnic Cauldron and Group Consciousness
- 5 Public Opinion and Multiculturalism’s Guiding Norms
- 6 When Do Ethnic and National Identities Collide?
- 7 Group-Conscious Policies: Ethnic Consensus and Cleavage
- 8 The Dynamics of Group-Conscious Policy Preferences
- 9 Multiculturalism and Party Politics
- 10 Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
2 - The Political Psychology of Identity Choice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- Prologue
- 1 The Challenge of E Pluribus Unum
- 2 The Political Psychology of Identity Choice
- 3 Contours of American National Identity
- 4 The Ethnic Cauldron and Group Consciousness
- 5 Public Opinion and Multiculturalism’s Guiding Norms
- 6 When Do Ethnic and National Identities Collide?
- 7 Group-Conscious Policies: Ethnic Consensus and Cleavage
- 8 The Dynamics of Group-Conscious Policy Preferences
- 9 Multiculturalism and Party Politics
- 10 Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Demographic change clearly has complicated prevailing patterns of ethnic relations in the United States. Immigration and differential fertility rates have greatly increased the numbers of Latinos and Asians, and the challenge of their cultural, economic, and political integration is layered on the historic and entrenched racial divide. Nationalism, in the sense of prioritizing a common national identity, and multiculturalism, in the sense of elevating the particular identities of each ethnic group, are based on particular assumptions about human psychology. A driving purpose of our book is to draw on psychological theories to explain patterns of public opinion confronting the search for solidarity in a multiethnic society. We believe that making explicit the psychological assumptions embedded in alternative solutions and testing for them will illuminate the political dilemmas as well. In particular, we argue that the relatively recent political term multiculturalism in fact builds on a much broader and historically quite general social psychological approach to racial and ethnic divisions.
The Psychology of American Intergroup Relations
We begin by presenting and contrasting three broad social-psychological conceptions of how Americans form and utilize their ethnic identifications in the context of contemporary ethnic diversity. In subsequent chapters, we apply these alternative characterizations of ethnic relations to understanding public opinion regarding national identity and multiculturalist ideology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- American Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism , pp. 30 - 55Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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