Institutions and the Formation of Mass Identities in New Political Communities - Four ‘Lessons From The Past’ (United Kingdom, Austria, Israel, and the United States of America)

Abstract

In Chapter 1, I defined some of the key concepts and analytical distinctions that are used throughout this book. Competing theories of identity formation, competing models of inter-connection between multiple identities, and the distinction between civic and cultural components of identity are among the many major conceptual elements that can be illustrated with reference to the emergence and evolution of mass political identities in various old and recent political communities. In this chapter, four case studies will be analysed in order to illustrate some of these conceptual and theoretical elements that were proposed earlier and to show how new political communities have always tried, in their own way, to foster the emergence of a corresponding mass political identity. The four countries presented in this chapter, the United Kingdom, the United States, Austria, and Israel have been selected because they represent a diversity of political situations in which the formation of a new mass identity did not seem to be obvious either culturally or politically.