National identity, minorities, and social conflicts. The evolution of attitudes in Hungarian society between 1992 and 2014

In this study, I explore the issues of national identity, attitudes toward immigrants, and perceptions of social conflict. Among other things, the study seeks to answer how the national attachment and European identity of Hungarians and other nations living in the region changed during the two decades between 1992 and 2014, a period that coincided with the most intensive phase of European Union enlargement. Time series data also provide answers to the question of whether the degree of rejection towards immigrants and other minorities changed during the period when the free movement of labor within EU countries was first restricted and then fully implemented. Where possible, I also analyze attitudes in an international comparison. The relevance of the study in the case of Hungary is given by the political, public, and ethnic conflicts that have intensified since the turn of the millennium: to what extent do Hungarians perceive conflicts between different social groups at the end of the period under review? Numerous empirical studies on the topic of national identity were conducted both before and after the change of regime (see, for example, Csepeli 1985, 1992; Csepeli–Örkény 1998). The results obtained from the 1995 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) showed that national feelings and various identity elements—such as being born in Hungary, Hungarian citizenship, Christianity, language, and self-classification—have different but practically unchanged weight.