Psychology of Nationalism and Religion on Example of Serbi-an Orthodox Church for a Period 1980-2000 (At the End of 20th Century)

Maja Kaninska

doi:10.33422/ejbs.v3i2.481

Abstract

This paper is to show nationalism through psychological perspective as a world's widespread phenomenon which impacts to internal social, economic and political radical changes. Religion as a nationalism itself has an ideological structure, and there is a fundamental explanation for that. Religion, because of its eternal character, has an exclusive, omnipresent pattern with its constituent elements (religious beliefs and feelings, rituals and symbols, as well as the fifth element) – and finally clergy, that psychologically fulfil human spiritual needs. Influenced by, usually, unpleasant historical events and many social changes, religion very often played a role in maintaining some visions that have always been of special significance to human. Process of secularization brought to religion marginalized position in society and it was reduced mainly to its elementary activity (in Christianity, those would be ceremonies related to baptism, matrimony, burial). However, its ideological postulates remained in the function of the new secular environment and manifested themselves with recognizable religious characteristics, which is given in the paper through a theoretical psychological approach.

Highlights

Relationship between person and culture along with a national character, share a common ground where culture is a homogeneous social phenomenon
Psychology of nationalism is a field of psychology that has practical and clearly demonstrated processes empirically
Juergensmeyer devoted himself to these relations, arguing that the line of separation between secular nationalism and religion was very thin and had always been thin (Juergensmeyer, 1993:16)

Summary

Introduction

Relationship between person and culture along with a national character, share a common ground where culture is a homogeneous social phenomenon. The psychological dimensions of nationalism could be interpreted in a context of close relationship between language, culture, history and of social context of a particular nation, in one hand, and the universal psychological processes which are part of a human, i.e., part of an individual, on the other.

Results

Conclusion