Symbols of national solidarity (Translation)

Abstract

   Harold F. Gosnell (1896–1997), a prominent American political scientist and one of the leaders of the first generation of the Chicago school of political studies, examines the key issues of American social cohesion during a wartime crisis in his article. The article was the scholar's reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the US entry into World War II. Taking into account the basic ideas of symbolic interactionism, Gosnell classifies as symbols of national solidarity the verbal and nonverbal representations that form citizens' sense of loyalty to their state. Gosnell frames his analysis around US President F. D. Roosevelt's «four freedoms» – freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The author focuses on «problematic» from the point of view of loyalty to the nation state racial and ethnic groups – African Americans, immigrants from countries with which the United States was at war. Gosnell shows that a significant component of military and political success is the government’s ability to explain to particular groups what a victory or defeat would mean to them.