DEFINING THE CONCEPT OF NA TIONAL IDENTITY IN POSTMODERN SOCIETY

摘要

The concept of national identity is closely related to the terms nation, nationalism and citizenship. Within the boundaries elimination impacted by globalization in today's society, the nation-state is no longer the singular unit of political power with absolute sovereignty. The nation will unconsciously adopt an external culture, language or paradigm. Moreover, the external factors will impact to the concept of the nation. Due to the changes, the notion of national identity is said to need re-conceptualization. The common understanding that the modernist premises of the national state have been eroded; the concept of citizenship that has had a long symbiotic existence with the nation state also needs to be rethought. Moreover, cosmopolitanism is mentioned to represent a logical accommodation of the postmodern challenges to citizenship. The number of social contacts with foreigners will contribute more to an increased awareness of the society's national identity or cultural diversity that offered a contribution to a realization of us being cosmopolitan. Consequently, the individual's identity then becomes multiple and transnationalist, in that it promotes an active citizenry that is empowered within a global civil society.