Symposium: Accessing the “political” in socio-historical context

1. Symposium:Accessing the “political” in socio-historical context Convenor: Peter Weinreich Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Ulster Director, Identity Exploration Ltd, www.identityexploration.com Conference: Tearing Down the Walls: Rethinking the Political in Political Psychology Centre for Research in Political Psychology, Queen's University Belfast Thursday 15 April 2010

2. Symposium:Accessing the “political” in socio-historical context Primordialist and situationalist perspectives on nationality in Beijing students Stephen Ewart, Identity Exploration Ltd, UK Reference to earlier comparative study: Weinreich, P. , Bacova, V., & Rougier, N (2003) Basic primordialism in ethnic and national identity. In Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) Analysing Identity: Cross Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. London: Routledge & Psychology Press. Chapter 3.

3. A Beijing home is where the hearth is? translate.google.com (english -> simplified chinese) 一个北京的家是哪里的壁炉是什么？ translate.google.com (simplified chinese->english) A Beijing home is where the fireplace is what?

4. “Home is where the hearth is” “Home is where you hang you hat” Primordialist Situationalist

5. Asking questions

12. Getting results

17. Primordialists Situationalists

18. Finding answers

19. At home

20. Situationalists Primordialists

21. Primordialism Inheritance from ancestors

22. And abroad

23. Situationalists Primordialists

24. Primordialism Duty of care for descendents

25. 并进一步在国外 translate.google.com (simplified chinese->english) And further overseas

26. Scores

27. Scores Primordialists would prefer to think people behave the same most of the time. Currently though, they tend to think people flip based on circumstances

28. Scores Situationalist would prefer to think people’s national sentiments are geniune. Currently though, they tend to think national sentiment masks selfish motives

29. Entities

30. Self Entities

31. Self Entities Primordialists are more likely to view the world in black and white terms Primordialists also tend to evaluate themselves more positively favourably

32. Other Entities

33. Other Entities Primordialists evaluated their parents more positively than Situationalists

34. Other Entities Situationalists evaluated how their perceived their children to be when grown up more positively than Primordialists

35. Other Entities Primordialist evaluated Chinese people and the China Communist party positively Situationalists were ambivalent about both

36. Other Entities The opposite was true of Westerners Situationalist evaluated them positively while Primordialists were ambivalent

37. Constructs

38. Construct Situationalists less convinced about their atheism

39. Construct The notion of striving for things in life is more significant for Situationalists

40. Construct Situationalists favour the security in conforming to tradition but without conviction Situationalists have firmer convictions than Primordialists regarding being open to change

41. Construct Both Primordialists and Situationalists endorse the idea of being loyal to the country over ancestry... ... though Situationalists are more wary

42. Construct Both Primordialists and Situationalists endorse the idea that a common national language is essential... ... though Primordialists see this idea as more significant than Situationalists, and have move conviction behind it

43. Construct Primordialists Continuing the nation in future generations Situationalists Adaptable to being any nationality

44. Identifications

45. Identifications Primordialists identified more with their parents Parents evaluated more positively So less identification conflict

46. Identifications Primordialists identified more with Chinese people in general and the China Communionist party

47. Identifications Situationalists identified more strongly with Westerners than did Primordialists

48. Summary

49. Two stances on nationality... Primordialism Situationalism ...with consistent absolute identity processes... Differing greyness of overall world view Appropriate convictions and conflicts with sentiments Identification with appropriate political stances Identification, or lack thereof, with lineage

50. ...but with different proximate patterns Northern Ireland: Primordialism stems from past lineage Situationalism focused on current government Slovakia: Primordialism stems from future lineage Situationalism focused on outgoing government China: Primordialism stems from present generation Situationalism focused on other nations