German youth and systemic racism: how conceptions of national identity relate to critical consciousness

This study focused on national identity conceptions and critical consciousness (CC) of systemic racism among adolescents with varying racialisation experiences, namely in terms of being perceived as ‘foreigner’, regardless of citizenship or self-identification (foreigner objectification). Specifically, we examined how heritage-based versus pluralistic national identity content relates to adolescents' critical interpersonal and structural anti-racist action through critical awareness of racialised inequities and critical anti-racist motivation. Our sample comprised 743 9th grade students (M = 15.04 years) in Thuringia, Germany. Path analyses revealed that across adolescents, pluralistic national identity content was not associated with critical awareness, but positively associated with motivation, which in turn was positively related to interpersonal and structural action. Heritage-based national identity content was negatively associated with interpersonal action for students experiencing low foreigner objectification and displaying high national attachment. In contrast, it was positively related to structural action for adolescents experiencing high foreigner objectification, and to interpersonal action when adolescents displayed low national attachment. Thus, adolescents' national identity and CC development are intertwined. While our results suggest that pluralistic conceptions of national identity are linked to adolescents' anti-racist action through critical anti-racist motivation, their potential to contribute to a holistic CC development may be limited given the lack of an observed association with critical awareness. More research is needed to disentangle various notions of pluralistic identities and examine whether and under which conditions these may relate to adolescents' critical awareness of racialised inequities. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of continuously reflecting on heritage-based national identity conceptions and countering their exclusive nuances.