Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism

This article reports the results of research into the recent popular phenomenon of flying Australian flags on one’s car for Australia Day. A survey was undertaken in Western Australia in 2011 to ascertain who flies the flag and why. Results indicate the phenomenon was widespread, with a quarter of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fozdar, F., Spittles, B., Hartley, Lisa
Format: Journal Article
Published: SAGE 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24335
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author Fozdar, F.
Spittles, B.
Hartley, Lisa
author_facet Fozdar, F.
Spittles, B.
Hartley, Lisa
author_sort Fozdar, F.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article reports the results of research into the recent popular phenomenon of flying Australian flags on one’s car for Australia Day. A survey was undertaken in Western Australia in 2011 to ascertain who flies the flag and why. Results indicate the phenomenon was widespread, with a quarter of those surveyed displaying car-flags. A clear relationship between car-flag-flying and exclusionary nationalism is demonstrated. Car-flag-flyers rate more highly on measures of patriotism and nationalism, and feel more negative towards Muslims and asylum seekers, and more positive about the White Australia Policy. They are also significantly more likely to feel their culture and values are in danger, and have a nativist vision of Australian identity. While both groups are positive about Australia’s diversity, car-flag-flyers are more likely to feel that migrants should assimilate. The results support other literature that suggests that in some contexts the Australian flag has come to be associated with exclusionary nationalism.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2014
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-243352017-09-13T15:09:36Z Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism Fozdar, F. Spittles, B. Hartley, Lisa flag Australia patriotism racism nationalism This article reports the results of research into the recent popular phenomenon of flying Australian flags on one’s car for Australia Day. A survey was undertaken in Western Australia in 2011 to ascertain who flies the flag and why. Results indicate the phenomenon was widespread, with a quarter of those surveyed displaying car-flags. A clear relationship between car-flag-flying and exclusionary nationalism is demonstrated. Car-flag-flyers rate more highly on measures of patriotism and nationalism, and feel more negative towards Muslims and asylum seekers, and more positive about the White Australia Policy. They are also significantly more likely to feel their culture and values are in danger, and have a nativist vision of Australian identity. While both groups are positive about Australia’s diversity, car-flag-flyers are more likely to feel that migrants should assimilate. The results support other literature that suggests that in some contexts the Australian flag has come to be associated with exclusionary nationalism. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24335 10.1177/1440783314524846 SAGE fulltext
spellingShingle flag
Australia
patriotism
racism
nationalism
Fozdar, F.
Spittles, B.
Hartley, Lisa
Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title_full Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title_fullStr Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title_full_unstemmed Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title_short Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian nationalism
title_sort australia day, flags on cars and australian nationalism
topic flag
Australia
patriotism
racism
nationalism
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24335