This study is an empirical test of Anderson's (2006) theory of "imagined communities" among the BRICS nations and the U.S. Using data collected through the fifth wave of the World Values Survey from Brazil, China, India, India, South Africa, and US, the study confirmed the argument of Anderson who believes that mass media have been the major channel for citizens of nation-states to construct their national identities. Religion’s impacts on the constriction of national identity, national proudness, and global identity is complex. Interestingly, the data revealed that national identity does not lessen global identity, which is positively associated with the postmaterialist value that is prevalent among the younger generations.

1. HOW NATIONAL IDENTITIES ARE
BUILT: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE
THEORY OF “IMAGINED
COMMUNITIES” AMONG SELECTED
DEVELOPING (BRICS) AND
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Qingjiang Yao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor & Carrol Haggard, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies, Fort Hays State University,
Hays, KS, USA

2. Abstract
This study is an empirical test of Anderson's
(2006) theory of "imagined communities" among the
BRICS nations and the U.S. Using data collected
through the fifth wave of the World Values Survey from
Brazil, China, India, India, South Africa, and US, the
study confirmed the argument of Anderson who believes
that mass media have been the major channel for
citizens of nation-states to construct their national
identities. Religion’s impacts on the constriction of
national identity, national proudness, and global identity
is complex. Interestingly, the data revealed that national
identity does not lessen global identity, which is
positively associated with the postmaterialist value that
is prevalent among the younger generations.
Keywords: National identity,
national proudness, global
identity, media use, religion,
postmaterialist value

3. Media, Religion and National
Identity
 Nationalism is used as a tool by politicians to
seek popularity
 Anderson (1991, 2006) argues that the
emergence of mass media and religion help
build up the identification with national states
Mass communication overcome the boundary of face-
to-face discussion
National identity may hurts global identity

4. Why BRICS?
 Brazil:
 President Cardoso’s introduction of foreign investment was criticized
by nationalists
 Nationalism in arts and soap operas
 Russia
 Debates over national monuments after the Soviet Unions collapsed
 An analysis of the bombings in the Moscow subway
 India
 The British colonial census and the enumeration
 China
 Westernization and the Chinese networks
 Communicative process and the nationalism in China
 South Africa
 The 1994 election and the new national identity

5. Hs & RQs
 H1: Media use is positively related to national
identity.
 H2: Religiosity is positively related to national
identity.
 RQ1: What are relationship of the
demographical factors and other
socioeconomic factors with the national
identity?
 RQ2: What is the relationship between the
national identity and the global identify?

6. Method
 Use WVS 2006-2007 data
 Dependent Variables:
 National identity. “I see myself as a citizen of my (country) nation” (1 = strongly
agree to 4 = strongly disagree, reverse coded)
 National proudness. How proud they are of their nationalities (1 = very proud; 4 =
not at all proud. Reverse coded).
 Global identity. The survey also asked respondent to indicate how much they
agree to see themselves as a citizen of the world (1 = Strongly agree; 4 = strongly
disagree. Data reverse coded).
 Independent Variables:
 Media use. used daily newspaper, news broadcasts on radio or TV, printed
magazines, in-depth reports on radio or TV, books, or internet/email last week to
obtain information about what is going on in their countries and the world (1 = yes,
0 = no. a = .71, M = 2.47, SD = 1.73, N = 6935).
 Religion variables: how important religion was in the respondent’s life (1 = very
important; 4 = not at all important. Reverse coded). how often respondents
attended religious services (1 = more than once a week; 8 = never. Reverse
coded). how important God was in respondents’ life (translated into different gods in
different countries. 1 = not important at all; 10 = very important.)

7.  Control variables:
 Life satisfaction. how satisfied the respondents were with their life (1 =
dissatisfied; 10 = satisfied).
 Postmaterialism (Inglehart, 1990) consisted of 12 items and identified what types
of goals respondents had for their countries.
 Confidence in the political system. confidence in the press, the television, the
police, the parliament, the civil services, the government, the political parties, and
the justice system (a = .89, M = 21.07, SD = 5.47, N = 5307). 1 = a great deal, and
4 = no confidence at all, recoded.
 Interests in politics. The survey measured respondents’ interest in politics with a
four-point scale (1 = very interested; 4 = not at all interested). The scale was
reverse coded so that higher values represented higher level of interest in politics,
a variable under control in the models.
 Gender (dummy variable with male = 1), age, education (1 = inadequately
completed elementary education; 8 = university with degree) and income (1 = lower
step; 10 = tenth step, calculated within each country) were also controlled in the
analyses. Four dummy variables about countries (Brazil = 1, China = 1, India = 1,
and US = 1. South Africa was used as the reference group) were also created and
put in the analyses to partial out the differences across the five countries.

8. Results
 H1, media use positively related to national identity,
supported: (B = .02, SE = .007, β = .04, p = .026)
 H2, Religiosity is positively related to national identity,
partially supported: religion important (B = .04, SE = .01, β =
.06, p = .004); God/gods important (B = .01, SE = .004, β =
.06, p = .004); attending religious services (B = -.01, SE =
.004, β = -.04, p = .017)
 RQ1, how control variables influence national identity
 confidence in the political establishments, positive
 Postmaterialist value, negative
 Age, positive
 Education, positive
 Income, negative
 RQ2, relationship between the national identity and the global
identify: positively related (B = .24, SE = .02, β = .19, p <
.001)

10. Discussion
 Consuming information from the mass media helps
citizens in a large society to generate knowledge
about their fellow citizens of whom they have no other
way to know.
 Religion’s function in the establishment of national
identity seems to be complex.
 National identity has a moderately positive association
with global identity, even with many related variable
under control.
 Global identity may be on an increasing trend, judging
from the associations of postmaterialist value with
national identity, national proudness, and global
identity

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