Temporality and collectivity: Diversity, history and the rhetorical construction of national entitativity.

Condor, Susan G. (2006) Temporality and collectivity: Diversity, history and the rhetorical construction of national entitativity. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45. pp. 657-682. ISSN 0144-6665

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Abstract

Vernacular representations of nationhood collected in England differed from canonical accounts of social categorization in three respects. First, nations were not typically constructed as simple person categories, but rather as hybrid collectivities of human beings, objects and geographical locations. Second, national representation was not confined to the present tense, but was typically conveyed through temporal distinctions and narratives. Third, speakers displayed a reflexive concern over the rationality and morality of national categorization and stereotyping. Speakers could manage the tension between the need to recognize both national diversity and entitativity by forging a distinction between Englishness (identified with homogeneity, ethnic nationalism and the past) and Britishness (identified with pluralism, civic nationalism and historical progress). However, accounts had a dilemmatic quality. The strategies speakers used to promote images of contemporary national in-group diversity often implicitly presupposed a normal moral order of national cultural homogeneity. The association of pluralism with values of progressive social change meant that accounts of `our' distinctive lack of national character could carry tacit implications of relative superiority. General implications for social identity approaches to social categorization are discussed

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
British Journal of Social Psychology
Additional Information:
RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3207
Subjects:
?? social psychologybf psychology ??
ID Code:
3566
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
10 Mar 2008 16:58
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 11:16