Research On Ethnic And National Identity In The Age Of Globalization

Humans are always in different social relationships,in which the sense of identity and belonging of different human groups is shaped.Social existence determines social consciousness,and the sense of identity is the dynamic reflection of the objective world where an individual is situated.Therefore,the sense of identity is not invariable indeed,but undergoes constant changes with social circumstance.In reality,members of an ethnic group and citizens of a country constitute two types of important identities,namely ethnic and national identities.In theory,such issues don't exist in nation-states,while in multi-ethnic countries,differences and tensions commonly exist among various ethnic groups,and sometimes even give rise to conflicts.Against the background of globalization,exchanges and interactions among different regions,countries and even ethnic groups are becoming increasingly frequent.In some extent,the boundary among countries has early been broken through,and universal communication has come into shape.However,the deepening globalization brings about not only great achievements in all walks of life,but also bewilderment and insecurity intensified by the instable nature of the development of globalization.As to nation-states,globalization delivers a blow to traditional ethnic and national identity,and meanwhile creates new opportunities and historical conditions to facilitate the solution of new problems.In the age of globalization,the handling of the relationship concerning ethnic and national identity is not only related to the unification and stability of a nation,but also to the security and consolidation of a country.That's why ethnic and national identities have increasingly become the focus of the society and science community.Under the guidance of Marxist view of nationality and state,and based on the theory and methodology of ideological and political education,this article makes a comprehensive discussion on ethnic identity,national identity and the handling of the relationship between the two in terms of the theory,historical context,empirical investigation and realistic path,in order to have a profound knowledge about this issue.On this basis,it also aims to provide a theoretical reference and empirical evidence to safeguard national stability and national unity and to construct a socialist harmonious society.The content of this article contains the following five parts.The first part is an introduction that illustrates the background of this research.Faced with the influence of globalization,many countries witness prominent problems that nationality identity crisis arises within the nation and the ideological education against the background of globalization meets with severe challenges.In this part,relevant findings by both domestic and foreign researchers are carefully collected and analyzed in details.On this basis,the idea and framework for research is determined,so as to lay a foundation on further studies.Besides,this part clarifies that a macroscopic perspective of ideological education is adopted for this study,and incorporates ethnic and national identity into the research field of ideological education.Furthermore,the significance of research,the reason why the Yi nationality is chosen as the object of the case study and the relevant explanation on the statistics are given.The second part is an interpretation and definition in which the concepts of “identity”,“ethnic groups” and “nation” are analyzed,and the connotative and denotative implications of these concepts are defined.On the basis of a comprehensive analysis on research findings,“ethnic identity” and “national identity” are defined.From the perspective of political discipline,ethnic identity is gradually formed in the process of humans' social interaction.As a dynamic concept containing three dimensions,namely cognition,emotion and behavior,its core lies in the construction and acknowledgement of ethnic identity.Ethnic identity refers to the sense of belonging and responsibility based on the ties of blood and shared historical memory and cultural convention,and is remarkably featured by ethnicity and culture.While national identity should be interpreted against the background of globalization and it refers to the acceptance by various ethnic groups within a nation on its political reign,ideology,history and culture.For China,national identity has two implications: one is the approval and loyalty of citizens for their country in terms of the legitimacy of rule,system and strategies;the other is the common recognition and preservation of Chinese culture and fate.In the third part,analysis is made on the theory and practice of western ethnic identity and national identity,with a focus on the illustration of three theoretical forms,namely racialism,assimilation and multiculturalism.A brief assessment is made on these three theories based on the policy practice by western countries and the practical effects and points out that the nature of ethnic and national identity,namely chronicity,complexity and dynamism,makes it hard to construct a delicate and comprehensive universal mode.Multi-national states are expected to respect the historical and modern conditions,constantly exploring effective measures to strike a balance between ethnic identity and national identity based on theoretical and empirical studies.In the fourth part,further analysis is made on the current situation,influencing factors and general trend of ethnic and national identities of Liangshan Yi nationality based on empirical investigation.Yi nationality is a densely-populated minority group settled in south-west China,mainly in Sichuan,Yunnan,Guizhou and Guangxi.It is a minority ethnic group characterized by distinctive culture and time-honored history.Historically,it undergoes several massive minority migrations and gradually becomes the largest habitation of Yi nationality.Compared with Yi people settled in other regions,Liangshan well preserves the traditional social pattern,ethnic culture and customs of Yi nationality.Ethnic identity is presented in an innovative mode and is endowed with unique implications,while national identity undergoes constant transitions with political,economic,cultural and social development,and displays itself as a result with combined influence from various factors.Meanwhile,fueled by globalization and modernization,Liangshan Yi nationality is now faced with a new round of cultural reformation,and its ethnic and national identities are presented with new features.Through individual cases on Liangshan Yi nationality,it can be found that ethnic and national identities are coexisting in harmony,promoting their developments mutually without any collision,and the degree of national identity is a little bit higher than that of ethnic identity.These findings provide persuasive evidences for the issue of Chinese ethnic and national identities.The fifth part focuses on the theoretical analysis of ethnic and national identity and the exploration of realistic paths.Based on the theoretical and empirical study above,the internal relationship between ethnic and national identity is analyzed in details.On one hand,conflicts exist between the two;on the other hand,they coexist generally in harmony.National identity has supremacy and priority in both theory and practice.Therefore,in the age of globalization,multi-ethnic states are supposed to take initiatives,adopting effective measures in an effort to promote the development of ethnic and national identity.In terms of the exploration of realistic paths for ethnic and national identity,this article draws some evidences from Chinese historical and present conditions,reexamines the issue of ethical and national identities against the era of globalization based on the characteristics of “Chinese Rural Society” proposed by Professor Fei Xiaotong,along with the framework of “Pluralistic Unity Pattern”.As suggested by Chinese historical and present conditions,ethnic identity and national identity do not actually stand in opposition,but conversely,ethnic coexistence and ethnic complementation as a long-standing tradition are the choice of practical and historical experience and stands for the wisdom of living.Over thousands of years,China gradually forms the pattern of pluralistic unity.Meanwhile,China gets involved in the process of globalization with a more confident and open-minded attitude.Against such background,China is inevitably meeting with some challenges from ethical and national identity.In reaction to these challenges,this article puts forward five realistic paths in an attempt to promote ethical and national development.Firstly,socialist democratic system is to be improved to drive the political acceptance of people from various ethnic groups.Secondly,domestic economy is to be boosted to speed up the economic and social development of minority groups.Thirdly,Chinese culture is to be developed to promote the cultural identification nationwide.Fourthly,ideological education is to be strengthened to guarantee the stability and unity of the state.Last but not least,educational activities on citizen awareness are to be constantly carried out to reinforce national identity.