Support for National Flag-Displays in Times of Change: A Question of National Identification?

Flag-displays can be used within national groups to communicate majority supremacy over ethnic minorities. In two studies set in an Australian context (N = 88 and N = 102), we explain how mode of national identification (glorifying identifiers versus attached identifiers) differently predicts support for multicultural values and national flag-displays. In line with the hypotheses, we found that attached identifiers were more supportive of multicultural values and national flag-displays by ethnic minorities than glorifying identifiers. In contrast, glorifying identifiers supported flag-displays by the majority more than did the attached identifiers. Study 2 demonstrates that glorifying identifiers’ use of the national flag is explicitly meant to exclude other groups. As expected, support for multicultural values and endorsement of the flag as an exclusion tool helped to explain the relationship between identification and flag-displays. As such, results revealed the attitudes behind a novel form of prejudice that is currently on the rise.