Nationalism, patriotism, and essentialism in the construction of brazilian national identity

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that nationalism and patriotism are fundamental elements in the degree of identifi cation with the Brazilian nation and that essentialism has a mediating role in the relationship between nationalism, patriotism and national identity. A total of 229 university students took part in this study, with a mean age of 20 years; 28% were men and 71.2 % women. The results of this study show that Brazilian national identity is a multifaceted construct that can be explained by taking into account factors such as nationalism, patriotism, and essentialism. In relation to the role played by these variables in the model, our hypothesis that essentialism acts as a mediating variable in the relationship between patriotism, nationalism, and national identity was confi rmed. Even though essentialism explains national identity, it does not have a constitutive role, because of its process-based nature. It explains perceived national identity in terms of homogeneous attributes. These results help us in understanding the role of nationalism, patriotism, and essentialism in the construction of the Brazilian national identity.