Florian Grötsch (PhD-Student Bergische Universität Wuppertal &Prof. Dr. Annette Schnabel (Bergische Universität Wuppertal and Umeå University)
Classical theories on national identity and theories on functional differentiation of modern societies suggest that the nation will become less important in structuring and integrating societies. However, we observe the nation still being important for explaining integration and exclusion in modern European nation-states. This trend seems to become stronger under the conditions of increased immigration from non-European countries and “Islamisation” of conflicts after the terror attacks of 9/11.
We focus on if and how religion supports or hinders national identity (NI) in Europe. We consider national identity as an inclusive and exclusive collective identity based on individual feelings of loyalty, belonging and affiliation. Because religion plays an important role in marking “us” and “them” we want to know how religion and national identity are intertwined. We consider religion not only in form of individual beliefs and religious practices but also as institutional state-church-relationships and religious homogeneity of societies. We employ a multi-level model processing nested data and analyse the impact of individual religiosity and religion as an institutional and societal feature on NI on the basis of the EVS 2008 data. The results show that NI still is an important in Europe and that its role differ in different countries, that denomination matters but that the institutional framework and religious heterogeneity also play an important role. This suggests that religion is one important factor shaping the inclusive and exclusive properties of NI and that these properties depend on more than “just” individual attitudes.
