Are we Europeans?: Correlates and the relation between national and European identity

Abstract

Researches of the correlates of the national identity are plentiful both in Serbian and foreign literature. However, in the past decade or so, a new social identity starts to make its way into the researches of the social psychologists-European identity or the sense of belonging to the Europe and the Europeans. This paper deals with the relation between national and European identity, as well as with the correlates of both of these, or one of them. The sample consisted of 451 subjects, all residents of major cities in the Vojvodina region (northern Serbia), divided into several categories-ethnicity (Serbs and Hungarians), educational level (primary and secondary school or University degree), gender and age. Several scales have been used: Cinnirela's national and European identity scale, Collective self-esteem scale, scale measuring attitudes towards the European integration-STEIN and Social dominance orientation scale-SDO. The questionnaire with the demographic characteristics has also been the part of the instrument. The research has been conducted in 2005 and 2006 in the all of the major Vojvodinian cities. Results show the relation between national and European identity is foggy, but general conclusion is that we can observe them as independent identities. The correlates of the national identity were ethnicity, high social dominance orientation, high collective self-esteem and negative attitude towards the European integrations. Correlates of the European identity were fewer: ethnicity, positive attitude towards the European integration and low social dominance orientation.