Nationalism and Worldmindedness: Japanese Versus American Comparison.

Nationalism and worldmindedness are social cognitions that have both culture-unique and culture-universal aspects. To compare cross-cultural manifestations of these 2 sentiments, 270 Japanese and 210 American university students in Tokyo and Los Angeles answered questions on national resources, self-sufficiency and interdependence, communication, global priorities, world government, and war. Japanese and Americans were chosen for this comparison because while both countries are technological, affluent societies, they differ in geopolitical status, degree of global interdependence, and societal makeup. Findings revealed that nationalistic feelings coexisted with worldmindedness in both groups but that their different manifestations reflected national political and social realities. For example, although both groups valued the United Nations and war prevention efforts, more Japanese expressed identity with a global community while more Americans felt that war was inevitable. Also, although both groups expressed love of country, Americans put stronger emphasis on fighting for their country right or wrong. The strong showing of worldmindedness by Japanese is explained by World War II and its aftermath--the effects of Hiroshima, demilitarization, and resource dependence. The paper includes a tabulation of survey results. (LP)