Thread: Proud to be an American? Yes, study finds

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst ... ism28.html


Proud to be an American? Yes, study finds

June 28, 2006

BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter


Politicians and pundits may put the states in different color camps, but overall, America is a united red, white and blue when it comes to national pride.

Indeed, the U.S. leads the world in pride of country, according to a new University of Chicago study that surveyed people in 34 nations.

Three out of four Americans say they would rather be a U.S. citizen than any other, tops in the world.

National pride is a two-edged sword, said Tom W. Smith of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.


There can be a negative side to it: "Other countries might see this as somewhat arrogant,'' said Smith, who is the director of the center's General Social Survey.

On the other hand, "having a high level of national pride is a resource that can sustain a nation in times of crisis,'' said Smith.

"The fact that the U.S. is fighting a global war on terrorism, is fighting two active wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet has managed to get by with an an all-volunteer armed forces is extremely unusual,'' he said, adding that national pride is "one of the factors that sustain that ability to maintain a 2 million-plus army.''

The study released Tuesday asked 10 questions of some 43,000 people in 34 nations in 2004 and did not include communist China nor Mideast nations.

It repeated a similar survey asked in the mid-1990s. In the earlier study, the U.S. ranked second to Ireland on the patriotic scale, said Smith.

Do terror attacks play role?


Three nations recorded higher levels of patriotism in the most recent query over the mid-1990s survey: the U.S., the Philippines and Australia. Smith noted the first two have been the targets of successful terrorist attacks and the third lost citizens in a 2002 bombing in Bali, an attack sometimes referred to as "Australia's 9/11.''

"While I can't prove it with this data, it is my suspicion that [the attacks] explain the increase in those countries,'' said Smith. "People want to rally around when their country is under threat."

Generally, eastern European nations scored lowest, said Smith.

Germany, for instance, scored in the lower third, which, Smith believes, "is in large part a reflection of too much deference to the state under the Nazi regime.''

aherrmann@suntimes.com

Here is how the countries ranked:

-1. United States
-2. Venezuela
-3. Ireland
-4. South Africa
-5. Australia
-6. Canada
-7. Philippines
-8. Austria
-9. New Zealand
-10. Chile
-11. Great Britain
-12. Israel
-13. Uruguay
-14. Finland
-15. Spain
-16. Denmark
-17. Switzerland
-18. Japan
-19. France
-20. Portugal
-21. Hungary
-22. Bulgaria
-23. Norway
-24. Russia
-25. Sweden
-26. Slovenia
-27. Germany (West)
-28. Czech Republic
-29. Taiwan
-30. Latvia
-31. Korea
-32. Slovakia
-33. Poland
-34. Germany (East)