Ethnic concentration and national identity (Iraqi society as a model)

Abstract

One of the features of Iraqi society is sectarian, religious and national diversity, which is supposed to lead to a state of coexistence and familiarity and to be a cultural enrichment factor for society, but this reality can turn into a disaster in all its dimensions, as it turns into war and hatred between the components of society due to politics or religion, as they took two sectarian directions, if we wanted to look at this diversity, which may not exist in this way in another country in the region in particular, In terms of its relevance to homogeneity or lack thereof, it may be a destructive factor and it may also be one of the most important factors of building and unity, due to the need for these components to unity and the inability of one of them to cancel the other, and this situation will be a source of cultural and intellectual enrichment. The lesson is not in a homogeneous society, as ethnic pluralism has acquired a special importance because it is the reason behind the conflicts in many societies and countries around the world and led to the collapse of other countries, or to long wars and changing political systems in countries or to crises, tensions and political divisions. Ethnicism  is a very  old and  complicated  phenomenon , the understanding of it requires  having a considerable knowledge of all the physical , psychological , and social dimensions which represent  the specific environment for this phenomenon that gives it its specific shape  .  Ethnicity is a complex and ancient phenomenon whose analysis and pursuit of understanding the necessity of being aware of the physical, psychological and social dimensions that represent the environment of the phenomenon and which give each group its distinctive character and the motives for the establishment and crystallization of the ethnic group, the continuation of hatred between the different groups within the same society will lead to an increase in the distance .The social group among them may result in weak integration between these groups, so that one society becomes divided into sub-societies, each of which lives in social isolation, not familiar with the activities of the community . Here we arrive at a very important issue, which is that exposing society to an emergency or crisis will lead to provoking aggression among some groups that have been greatly frustrated, as they take the crisis or emergency as an opportunity to undermine other groups, as the Iraqi sectarian combat scene adopts the method of its most important feature is to identify the victim or the victims are due to ethnic considerations: religious, sectarian, or regional. Refusal to give the name is not a reflection of reality or arrogance, but rather it is a cover for a sectarian project in which certain forces contribute to sabotage the Iraqi social, religious and political fabric, thus undermining the foundations of national cohesion and the division of loyalties and their transformation from the patriot to the ethnic and the loser in this  is  the process is Iraqi citizenship and Iraq as a homeland .Therefore, the current research aims to identify the concept of ethnocentrism  , the foundations and psychological principles of ethnic concentration and its causes, sectarianism and ethnicity and their impact on the national identity in Iraq, as the concept of ethnocentrism  indicates that thinking and belief that the ways of thinking of a certain group of people are better than the thinking of other groups, and the  judgment on other groups, it is inferior or inferior compared to other groups, so the word (ethnic) refers to social inheritance, and (centrism) indicates the central starting point, it is a group of global symptoms of the perspectives and behaviors associated with it that include cooperation of individuals within the group and their lack of cooperation with individuals outside the group . Ethnicity is the cultural identity, manifestations and cultural practices of a specific community that have historically been established tend to separate people from each other, so ethnicity becomes a phenomenon expressing a social identity based on specific cultural practices and individual beliefs, and belief in a common origin and history and a sense of belonging to a group that confirms the identity of its members in their interaction with each other. And with others. As for the ethnic group, this term was originally used and applied to groups of people that were biologically related, then this meaning expanded and the term became used for any group that has common cultural traditions and a sense of identity. Thus, a group can be interconnected with a sense of history and traditions (such as Jews), a sense of language (such as the Indians in Dakota) and geography (such as the Scandinavians), and on the basis of a sociological definition of race or gender (such as black Americans) or on a sense of religion as (Muslims) . Sectarianism and ethnicity in Iraq affect the national identity, as the privacy of identity in Iraq is due to the multiplicity and diversity of different social entities and multiple subcultures that start with nationalism and religion and end with tribe and sect, and Iraq since ancient times is a complex entity of multiple ethnicities that overlap and coexist with each other, despite this overlap And the interaction and coexistence between these groups, geography remained inconsistent with the limits of national, religious and sectarian sentiments due to the multiplicity of loyalties to the tribe and sect, or region and city, which each attracts feelings of social loyalty around them. The results showed that the active affiliations in Iraqi society are groups that are far removed from the groups that are supposed to be active in modern societies. These traditional affiliations led the Iraqi individual away from the  supposed unified affiliations with individuals within  this  society .