The personality of a nation
IT'S said that America began to form a national personality even before it obtained political freedom from England. The American national unity was based upon an abiding commitment to the constitutional principle of liberty. That unity was strengthened by a reverence for the accomplishments of past individuals and institutions. These ideals constituted the underpinnings of America's national character. The bottom line is that nations have personality like persons have nationality.
Michael Lynn, an Associate Professor of Consumer Behaviour, argues that nations indeed have their characters. In his study on "National Personality and Tipping Customs," he shows that nations with extroverted populations like Greece, Mexico and the United States tended to have many tipped professions. Extroverts are outgoing and sociable people. They enjoy the attentive treatment from servers who are motivated by tips.
Lynn's study further suggests that the number of tipped professions was also greater in countries scoring high in traits associated with anxiety. These countries are Egypt, Spain and Italy. Tipping is important to people of these countries, because it reduces their anxieties about being served by strangers.
So, the personalities of a nation and its people have a seminal connection. The Georgian political theorist Ghia Nodia explains that national consciousness is "patterned on the blueprint of the individual human personality." The national self only makes sense in terms of the personality concept.
Does a nation take after its people, or do people take after their nation? It can be debated like which of the two between chicken and egg came first. Vaclav Havel, the Nobel-winning last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech republic after it separated from Slovakia, gives us his observation.
He says that a nation not only has the politicians it deserves, but politicians also have the society they deserve. Because, it largely depends on the politicians which social forces they choose to liberate and which they choose to suppress. It makes a difference whether they choose to rely on the good in each citizen, or on the bad.
Bill Maher, an HBO host, recently raised that issue when he called America a stupid country. Faced with a barrage of criticism, Maher backed up his claim with statistics. Before the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did.
He further added that polls showed a majority of Americans couldn't name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights was. Another 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. Nearly half of Americans didn't know that states have two senators and more than half couldn't name their congressman. A Gallup poll reveals that 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth.
Often nations outshine their people. In America, it was a result of the cultural unity of its people, their national pride, respect for the constitution and the unflinching faith in the American Dream. But the people also outshine nations. A New York Times story revealed that when asked what would happen to Netherlands should the levees break, most of the Dutch expressed their confidence in the capacity of their engineers and government to protect them against flooding.
All of the above are the ingredients of national personality. Now, it doesn't matter who influences who, individual and national personalities are bound in a symbiotic relationship. An individual is the least common denominator of his nation. He must cherish the nation, and the nation must let him flourish. Proud people often make proud nation.
Havel looks at it from a different angle. He recognises that every day an individual might take orders in silence from an incompetent superior. Every day an individual might solemnly perform ritual acts which he privately finds ridiculous. He might even unhesitatingly give answers to questionnaires, which are contrary to his opinions. But none of these means that "he has entirely lost the use of one of the basic human senses, namely, the sense of humiliation."
If pride of an individual speaks of his personality, so does humiliation. It's also true for a nation. What uplifts it is as important to know as what lowers its self-esteem.
We are divided as people. We let foreigners poke their noses in our affairs. We aren't ashamed to be corrupt. Our respect for our constitution is atrocious. Not to say, we have questionable confidence in our government.
This says that we have not only lost our sense of pride, but also our sense of humiliation. Our expression of honour is as impaired as our perception of shame. It's a kind of personality disorder. Whether person is responsible for nation, or nation is responsible for person is the critical question.
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