Review of Psychology of Nationality and Internationalism

Abstract

Reviews the book, Psychology of Nationality and Internationalism by W. B. Pillsbury (1919). The author here presents a keen analysis of the criteria of nationality, and their practical bearing on the problems of free nations. While the Versailles treaty provides that henceforth each nation may be self-determining, there appears to be no agreement as to what constitutes a nation. Before any national criteria can be evaluated, a distinction must be made between the concepts Nation and State . These expressions are commonly employed indifferently in reference to one or the other "Nationality is the mental state or community in behavior," while the state "is merely the system of government, a unity for the sake of making and enforcing laws." An important question before the world today is whether or not nationality is the last word in political organization. Our author finds every psychological reason to believe that the final step in the federation of the nations of the world can and must be made. Were the problems of nationality confined to instinct alone each nation as it exists would represent a closed unit. Happily the ideals which may be created from time to time point to the solution. These, when well established, have the force of instinct which insures unity and progress. "One may confidently assert that the development of the national spirit has come about by restriction of the natural range of the social instincts by training rather than by any unnatural extension of them." Aside from the main thesis above stated, the book is replete with valuable suggestions of psychological and practical significance. The book as a whole exemplifies the tendency among modern psychologists to take a synthetic view of psychology. Both the emotions and intellect are here treated in their adequate relations. While it is not a war book in the popular meaning, it is none the less one of the best of them, for the author has considered the nations at war as his laboratory. The book requires careful study and should be read by everyone interested m the psychology of war and the issues that have grown out of it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)