‘The Dark Side of Nationalism’: Fatal Flaw or Convenient Myth?
Date and time
A talk by Professor Stephen Reicher. Register here for the online event.
About this event
Please note that you can attend this event either online or in person. Register here if you wish to attend online. If you would prefer to take part in this event in person, please follow the link at the bottom of this page.
Whenever independence is discussed, someone will invoke ‘the dark side of nationalism’ as a counter-argument. There is no doubt that history is replete with examples, but is xenophobia and racism a necessary component of all nationalism or else a feature only of some? And if the latter, what are the conditions under which nationalism turns toxic? In this talk, I will consider the psychology of nationalism and inter-national relations. I will discuss the relationship between nationalism and racism. And I will examine how accusations regarding the ‘dark side of nationalism’ have been used and misused in the independence debate.
Stephen Reicher is Wardlaw Professor of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews. He is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the British Academy, of the Academy of Social Sciences, of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and of the British Psychological Society. Stephen’s work has to do with issues of social identity and group behaviour. He has researched a range of topics including crowd behaviour, inter-group hatred, nationalism and national identity, leadership and the roots of toxic behaviour. He has used this work to advise both the UK and Scottish Governments on topics including community resilience, behaviour in emergencies, public order policing and, latterly, the Covid response. Stephen’s book Self and Nation (with Nick Hopkins) examines the uses of ‘Scottishness’ in political debate. His most recent book (with Alex Haslam and Michael Platow) is on ‘The New psychology of Leadership’.
Sign up here to take part in this event online. The Zoom link will be sent out to you a few days before the event.
You can also choose to attend this event in-person at the Quaker Meeting House in central Edinburgh. Sign up here for the in-person event:
