Nationalism and Patriotism Scale
Also known as: Patriotism-Nationalism Scale, Kosterman-Feshbach Scale, Blind and Constructive Patriotism Scale
The Nationalism and Patriotism Scale, introduced by Kosterman and Feshbach (1989), distinguishes patriotism (love of and attachment to one's nation) from nationalism (belief in national superiority and a desire for dominance over other nations). It established that national attachment is not a single attitude but a set of separable dimensions, a distinction later extended by Schatz, Staub and Lavine (1999) into blind versus constructive patriotism.
Key highlights
- Empirically separates benign attachment from chauvinistic superiority, which predict opposite political outcomes.
- Multidimensional structure has been replicated and extended across many countries and decades.
- The blind/constructive distinction further clarifies when national attachment supports versus undermines democratic engagement.
- Strong reported reliability and a long validation record make it a standard in research on national identity.
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
Use the scale when distinguishing the constructive and corrosive forms of national attachment matters, such as in studies of foreign-policy attitudes, immigration, support for war, populism, and political tolerance. It is appropriate for survey research that needs to show, for example, that nationalism but not patriotism predicts hostility toward immigrants. Select the Kosterman-Feshbach subscales for the patriotism/nationalism distinction and the Schatz et al. subscales for the blind/constructive distinction.
Strengths & limitations
- Empirically separates benign attachment from chauvinistic superiority, which predict opposite political outcomes.
- Multidimensional structure has been replicated and extended across many countries and decades.
- The blind/constructive distinction further clarifies when national attachment supports versus undermines democratic engagement.
- Strong reported reliability and a long validation record make it a standard in research on national identity.
- The original item pool is long; abbreviated subscales vary across studies, complicating comparison.
- Item content (e.g., references to U.S. foreign aid) is nation-specific and requires adaptation abroad.
- Patriotism and nationalism are positively correlated, so discriminant validity must be demonstrated in each sample.
- Self-reported national attachment is sensitive to the political climate at the time of measurement.
Common pitfalls
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Applications
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Frequently asked
What is the core difference between nationalism and patriotism here?
Patriotism is positive emotional attachment to and love of one's country without necessarily comparing it to others. Nationalism adds a belief in national superiority and a desire for dominance over other nations. Empirically, nationalism correlates with militarism, ethnocentrism, and outgroup hostility, whereas patriotism alone does not, which is why the scale keeps them separate.
What is blind versus constructive patriotism?
Blind patriotism is staunch, uncritical allegiance that rejects criticism of the nation and treats dissent as disloyalty. Constructive patriotism is attachment combined with a willingness to criticize the country in order to improve it. Schatz, Staub and Lavine showed these predict different outcomes: blind patriotism aligns with political disengagement and intolerance, constructive patriotism with informed engagement.
Can someone be high on both patriotism and nationalism?
Yes. The subscales are positively correlated, so many respondents score moderately high on both. The value of the instrument is that it lets researchers hold one constant while examining the other, revealing that the harmful political correlates attributed to 'national pride' are driven primarily by the nationalism and blind-patriotism components.
Sources
- 1.Kosterman, R., & Feshbach, S. (1989). Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. Political Psychology, 10(2), 257-274.
- 2.Schatz, R. T., Staub, E., & Lavine, H. (1999). On the varieties of national attachment: Blind versus constructive patriotism. Political Psychology, 20(1), 151-174.
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Nationalism and Patriotism Scale. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/political-psychology/nationalism-patriotism-scale