Hiro Saito

This dissertation examines the development of national identity, cognition of national groups, and civic consciousness in Japanese children and adolescents from an interdisciplinary perspective that combines sociological and psychological theories, using a multi-method approach that employs surveys, interviews, and ethnography. Preliminary results show that Japanese youth tend to construct Japanese identity that retains identifications with national outgroups, develop non-essentialist understanding of nationality, and acquire civic consciousness that goes beyond the territory of the Japanese state. Thus the dissertation probes the emergence of new patterns of identity, cognition, and aspiration concurrent with globalization that has been transforming the nature of the nation-state.