The Importance of Patriotism (Essay Sample)

Even though many people are unaware of the importance of patriotism, it has become a widespread social phenomenon in recent years. A wide variety of manifestations characterizes the modern concept of patriotism. A prominent educator defines patriotism as the moral quality of a person, while psychology considers patriotism a system-functional property of an individual. A patriotic citizen has devotion, love, and a sense of attachment to their country. Patriotic value orientations form a certain measure of social identity, characterized by a positive, neutral, or negative attitude towards the homeland. Patriotism manifests in various feelings and language, depending on a country's historical, political, or cultural circumstances. Although patriotism mainly defines the love for one's homeland, it also includes additional factors for being a patriot. These include political virtue, spiritual attachment, immense love for the nation, and feelings of common pride and liberty.
A patriot has both political virtue and spiritual attachment to the nation. Patriotism is the socio-economic and moral principle that characterizes the attitude of citizens towards their country, place of birth, and residence. Johann Gottfried von Herder argues that since patriotism refers to a spiritual attachment to the nation and political virtue, this context makes the fatherland synonymous (Smith, 2021). Hence, compared to linking patriotism with constitutional liberty preservation, Herder links the love that one has for their country with the maintenance of moral unity and popular culture of the people (Smith, 2021). Herder suggests that patriotism is associated with exclusive attachment to one's culture and opposes cultural assimilation and cosmopolitanism. Therefore, the degree of spiritual devotion or political virtue a person has determines their level of patriotism.