National self-examination.

In out of the way country districts there are still indications of what one can call village and parish characters; those who belong to small communities attribute specific psychological traits to themselves and to members of neighbouring local groups whom they consider foreigners. On the national level collective psychology is more developed. On the international level, generalizations about nations go further. The literature of travel, journalism, and works with academic pretensions, all offer highly developed and modulated accounts of how the Swede, the German, the Frenchman and the Russian are constituted. In recent decades attempts to define racial characteristics have also been common. The author begins with the assumption that there is a certain number of races, and that there must be psychological differences corresponding to the physical differences. One element from the old concept of clearly distinguished national characters survived in contemporary academic debate. There are differences between nations, but those are said to be superficial characters of custom and behavior.