This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Smith, R. J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

In Defense of National Character

Easton, PA, USA, r.j_smith{at}juno.com

The concept of national character has a long and disputed history, serving at one time as a meeting point for anthropology and psychology, later as a signpost for the parting of the ways. Cultural anthropology has traditionally given ontological priority to culture over the individual and to values as relative over universal; psychology has increasingly pursued the reverse. Current trends in cross-cultural psychology—employing a biological trait ontology assessed via English language constructs at the individual level, and aggregated questionnaire responses at the cultural level—have furthered this universalist tradition, unlike research linking national character with sociocultural conditions. These data sources remain frozen in their respective tracks, related only by `undynamic' correlations. Their (premature) message has heralded the demise of national character, inadvertently paving the way for international character, mirroring methods, models, concepts, and values overwhelmingly Western in orientation, and nicely paralleling on-going economic globalization.

Key Words: cross-cultural psychology • globalization • individualism— collectivism • national character • stereotypes • trait theory

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 18, No. 4, 465-482 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354308091826


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?