Group Identity and Construction of Unified Country: Reflections on the Unification of Multi-nationality Country

Ma Fengshu

Group identity is a social role that every social member must have, and identity or exclusion of some kind of group identity is a result of choice. In the diverse modern society, the condition of group identity directly affects whether the social integrity and unification will success. For a national country, national identity and state identity are the political group identity of most importance. Within the multi-nationality country, there exists very complicated relations between these two kinds of group identities, and is influenced by various factors such as the political status and population size of a nationality; regional distribution of a nationality; attribute of national culture; economic condition, educational situation, and level of modernization of a nationality, interaction among nationalities, as well as national policy of the country. Based on comprehensive consideration of these impacts, the national policy and national system of our country should aim at strengthening people’s state awareness and citizenship, while weakening their national consciousness and identity, and timely adjust according to the changes in reality of home and abroad; that is the important emotional and psychological foundation for maintaining the unity of a multi-nationality country.