Indian = Hindu? The Development of Nationalist Attitudes Among Hindu and Muslim Children in India

Abstract

Many political movements across the world today define citizenship in exclusionary ethnic or religious terms. This study extends research on ethnic-national associations in adults to children, adding to the relatively sparse literature on the development of national associations in children and in nonwestern contexts. Explicit and implicit religious-national associations were examined in a sample of 160 nine- to sixteen-year-olds (79 Hindu; 81 Muslim) in Gujarat, India. Results suggest that while Hindu children show a strong Indian = Hindu association by age 9, Muslim children appear to be buffered from this association. Furthermore, this association uniquely predicts variance in children's attitudes about social policy and their concept of nationality, above and beyond their age, religion, and intergroup attitudes.