Violated entitlement and the nation: How feelings of relative deprivation shape nationalism and constructive patriotism

Abstract

Perceptions of violated entitlement resulting from group-based relative deprivation shape attitudes and behaviors decisively. Drawing on social identity theory, I hypothesize that nationalism and constructive patriotism portray divergent relationships with subjective feelings of being disadvantaged due to different coping strategies to overcome status inferiority. Employing an original, large-scale survey from six European countries, the results clearly show that group-based relative deprivation is positively linked to nationalism, whereas the reverse holds for constructive patriotism. These results hold irrespective of a wide array of robustness checks. Thus, the present study adds to extant literature by identifying feelings of disadvantage as crucial for predicting nationalism and constructive patriotism, two key manifestations of group membership and in-group identification.