National Pride in the Developed World: Survey Data from 24 Nations

Abstract

What brings credit and prestige to a nation in the eyes of its citizens? Taking a multi‐dimensional approach, we investigate national pride in the country's science, economy, arts and literature, and sport. Data from the International Social Survey Programme's 24 nation ‘National Identity’ module (N = 30,894) show that people throughout the developed world feel national pride in all these things, contrary to most globalization hypotheses. Pride in the economy shows the most variation among nations, and pride in science also varies greatly, while pride in the arts and literature and in sport vary less. Regression analyses show that linkages of pride to national attachment also vary cross‐culturally: pride in science is more consequential in English‐speaking countries but pride in arts less consequential; pride in sports matters especially in smaller nations; and pride in economic achievements matters everywhere.