NATIONAL IDENTITY IN A WORLD IN MOVEMENT
NATIONAL IDENTITY IN A WORLD IN MOVEMENT

Summary/Abstract: National identity allows one to be typified before others, it is indispensable for simplifying and organizing the large amount of stimulation coming from society overall. The displacement of large numbers of individuals poses questions on the stereotypes relating to national characteristics. The media (TV, newspapers, Internet) play an important role in spreading stereotypes by creating, supporting and bringing information that is often not correct to the attention of public opinion. The media also construct “mythical” social images and categories that often become rooted in individuals’ ways of thinking. This occurs more easily when the people one comes into contact with belong to populations that are not sufficiently known through literature, cinema, tourism, but only through immigration. Stereotypes are thus predominantly negative because they ride the waves of “invasion panic” and “job loss” that strengthen a feeling of belonging in local individuals, and also activate claims leading to a process of making other nationalities inferior. The economic crises of this historical period do not help to meet others with a personal engagement aimed at understanding, but rather at rejection. A point of contact might be found through the recognition of the culture of others, allowing the fears caused by “diversity” to be dispelled.

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