Tous droits réservés © Anthropologie et Sociétés, Université Laval, 1995 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Document generated on 07/26/2021 11:05 a.m. Anthropologie et Sociétés Les politiques de l'identité. Nationalisme, patriotisme et multiculturalisme Heribert Adam Pouvoirs de l’ethnicité Volume 19, Number 3, 1995 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/015371ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/015371ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Département d'anthropologie de l'Université Laval ISSN 0702-8997 (print) 1703-7921 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Adam, H. (1995). Les politiques de l'identité. Nationalisme, patriotisme et multiculturalisme. Anthropologie et Sociétés, 19(3), 87–109. https://doi.org/10.7202/015371ar Article abstract The Politics of ldentity Nationalisai, Patriotism, and Multiculturalism Nationalism can best be understood as politicized ethnicity. This mobilization of culture and shared historical tradition correlates generally with increased economie competition and downward mobility. Political insecurity, status anxieties and doubts about individual identity are translated into a loss of collective worthiness. Nationalism promises to restore dignity and extinguish humiliation, according to specifie group histories. Racism is not a necessary ingredient of nationalism but ethnocentrism and exclusion of " the other " usually accompany the construction of imagined boundaries between " us " and " them ". Various theories of nationalism are reviewed, including primordial and sociobiological conceptualisations of ethnie solidarity as kinship nepotism. Political mobilization by nationalist elites and socio-historical causes of real or imagined grievances explains better why people attach themselves to ethnie groups in some situations but choose cosmopolitan individualism in other contexts. Inclusive patriotism based on citizenship, regardless of descent remains the only emotional glue that facilities both equality and loyalty in multi-ethnic states.