The Relationship Between the Cognitive Approach and Public Policy on National Identity Grounds (on the Example of the USSR and the State of Israel)

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the content of the cognitive approach to the interpretation of national identity. The features of the implementation of applied conclusions from this approach to the formation of national policy in the former USSR and in the modern State of Israel are and identified. Despite the different scales of these states, the basis for comparison is the extraordinary national or national-religious diversity of their population and the vital importance of taking into account nationalreligious factors in public policy. The paper outlines the main approaches to understanding nationalism and identifies some of the advantages of this cognitive approach. It is determined that the cognitive approach switches to "formative" and "grouping" activities, in particular classification, categorization and identification, and focuses, to a large extent, on the worldview of ordinary people. The key concepts in determining the nature of social identity are outlined. These include "social categorization", which is a tool for segmentation, classification and ordering of the social environment, "social comparison", which is the process of intergroup differentiation by comparing the characteristics of in-group and out-group, and "social identification". which is the result of social comparison and is determined by the social categories to which individuals belong. It is concluded that in both the USSR and the State of Israel, the basis for identification and self-identification is classification and categorization. They are used for the distribution of prestigious jobs and social positions, access to higher and prestigious secondary education, and so on. However, it is noted that these state classifications and categorizations are based on different grounds – ethnic and territorial nationality in the case of state national policy in the USSR, and religious affiliation (somewhat mixed with linguistic and (quasi) ethnic characteristics) in the case of policy of the State of Israel.