National identity among a sample of students at an Afrikaans university in South Africa

In this article we show that there are two more or less distinct orientations toward the citizenship role — one which stresses traditional notions of patriotism and another which emphasises more critical, active participation in the political process. These two orientations seem central since how one rates the citizenship requirements relates to both self‐identification and perceptions of social power.

Our results shed light on national identity within a sample consisting largely of Afrikaans university students in South Africa and indicate that these students identify very strongly with South Africa.