Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Vol 29(4), Nov 2023, 345-354; doi:10.1037/pac0000681
Identifying with superordinate identities can improve intergroup relations but sometimes it can backfire. Bosnia and Herzegovina offer a real-life context for studying social recategorization after violent conflict, which has not often been done in social psychological research. We applied Q methodology to explore the conceptualizations of Bosnian–Herzegovinian national identity, a category superordinate to ethnic identities of groups living there. Fifty participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina assessed to what extent each of the 48 statements depicting different national identity elements is characteristic for Bosnian–Herzegovinian identity. We identified three salient viewpoints of national identity. In the first viewpoint, national identity is idealized, including only positive elements, and rejecting all negative elements. We argue that this might be due to identity contestation and the self-esteem motive. In the second viewpoint, national identity is conceptualized as an imposed identity influenced by foreign powers, rejecting any positive intergroup relations and national symbols. This negation of Bosnian–Herzegovinian identity might reflect the categorization threat related to the country’s political context. In the third viewpoint, formal attributes such as citizenship and geographical determinant are central to Bosnian–Herzegovinian identity, as well as patriotic elements and accepting the country’s imperfections, with positive intergroup relations considered uncharacteristic. This might be a more realistic and critical conceptualization of the national identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We argue that different understandings of national identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina have different implications for intergroup relations and consequently for the development of society. The study contributes to the body of research on social recategorization in real-life contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)