Collective Identities in Transition

SELF Project Line 7

The polarization of citizens into groups of winners and losers who support antagonist positions towards the opening up of national borders and toward variety of globalization issues leads to a shift in the salience of collective identities which, in turn, further polarize citizens. National identities are obviously a more interdependent way of construing the self than supranational identities. What is the impact of this societal polarization along a national-supranational identification dimension for instance on social cohesion? Changing degrees of denationalization and rising societal polarization have furthermore given rise to alienation from the democratic political system. Dissertation projects addressing this democratic disconnect might link political culture research with concepts from political psychology.

Download the long description of project line 7, including potential research questions on collective identities in transition.

Potential PhD supervisors for dissertations in project line 7: