National Identity: Overview

National Identity Overview

Definition:

A sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language:his country’s lack of an explicit national identity
[MASS NOUN]: the image represents the Queen as an emblem of national identity
-Oxford Dictionary 


What is National Identity:
National identity is one's identity or sense of belonging to one state or to one nation. It is the sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, language and politics. National identity may refer to the subjective feeling one shares with a group of people about a nation, regardless of one's legal citizenship status. National identity is viewed in psychological terms as "an awareness of difference", a "feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they'".

National Identity to the collective
National identity can be thought as a collective product. Through socialization, a system of beliefs, values, assumptions and expectations is transmitted to group members. The collective elements of national identity may include national symbols, traditions, and memories of national experiences and achievements. These collective elements are rooted in the nation's history. Depending on how much the individual is exposed to the socialization of this system, people incorporate national identity to their personal identity to different degrees and in different ways, and the collective elements of national identity may become important parts of individual's definition of the self and how they view the world and their own place in it.

Issues:
In some cases, national identity collides with a person's civil identity. For example, many Israeli Arabs associate themselves with the Arab or Palestinian nationality, while at the same time they are citizens of the state of Israel, which is in conflict with the Palestinian nationality. Taiwanese also face a conflict of national identity with civil identity as there have been movements advocating formal "Taiwan Independence" and renaming "Republic of China" to "Republic of Taiwan." Residents in Taiwan are issued national identification cards and passports under the country name "Republic of China", and a portion of them do not identify themselves with "Republic of China," but rather with "Republic of Taiwan"