National Identification: a multidimensional Scale Based on a Three-Country Study

Abstract

We develop and test a multidimensional scale measuring national identification. Drawing on the extant literature on nations and national identity, we propose national identification as an understanding of how individuals subjectively and dynamically relate to different characteristics of nations that we operationalize as the dimensions of symbolic, civic, and solidary identification. We discuss the development of a number of questionnaire items representing each of these dimensions and report results of various validity and reliability tests using data from three surveys we conducted in England, Germany, and Poland. Results in general confirm the three-dimensional structure of the overall construct while at the same time suggesting country-specific adaptations to the scale.