The Investigation of the Identity Attributes and Attitudes of Romanians

The object of this qualitative sociology study was to emphasize the identity attributes of Romanians today: what they think of themselves as a people and what Romanians who live in the country or in other countries in the world think about Romania. The theoretical framework was established by social identity theory and by social representations research. For the gathering of data, I used a questionnaire with open questions and the reflection-and answer-triggering method, using as stimulus patriotic-themed songs: lyrics from the national anthem and another patriotic song very well known in Romania, entitled "God, protect the Romanians!". For the analysis of qualitative data, I used a category scheme specific for social representations, and at the end of the article I synthesized the data in the form of "storytelling" representative for four social categories included in the research: students, managers, pensioners and Romanian migrants abroad. The data obtained point to an identity crisis among these categories of Romanians: this crisis takes the form of a negative national identity. In terms of the social identity theory (Tajfel), it means that Romanians have in general a negative image when comparing themselves with other nations and they feel it like a strong discomfort.