Personal orientations towards Australian national identity among British-born residents

Abstract

An area of long-standing interest in sociological studies of nationality and ethnicity has been the implications of widespread cross-border movements of peoples for cultural identity. One important stream of research has been concerned with peoples who have moved to a new country that is culturally different from their “homeland”. Yet, far less attention has typically been given to those who shift to a country that is culturally alike. The study examines how peoples who have relocated from Great Britain to Australia feel about various ideas at the heart of contemporary debates about Australian national identity. Drawing on data from a 2001 survey of Australian national identity, analysis indicated that (i) British-born residents differ from the Australian-born in how their attitudes to key ideas about Australian national identity are “packaged” together, and (ii) among the British-born, views about Australian national identity vary across subgroups with different configurations of national pride.