Looking Back, Moving Forward
The Role of Collective Nostalgia in Shaping Collective Action Intentions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10076981 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hisham Motkal Abu-Rayya (0000-0003-2352-7414, University of Haifa), Sawsan Kheir (0000-0003-0627-4881, University of Haifa), Hajar Abu Salih-Tibi (University of Haifa) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0221 • E-ISSN: 1552-5422 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00220221261431334 |
| OpenAlex | W7142168854 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 71 |
Drawing on theories of collective continuity, nostalgia, and intergroup emotions, this study examines whether perceptions of collective discontinuity—a felt rupture in a group’s historical trajectory—evoke collective nostalgia (i.e., longing for how the group used to be), which in turn promotes ingroup protection intentions via increased group-based anger. We tested this serial mediation model among two distinct groups: Arab-Israeli citizens and Jewish-Israeli citizens, each experiencing unique forms of collective discontinuity. Arab-Israeli citizens experience a crisis of safety and social cohesion amid escalating intra-community violence and perceived state neglect. Jewish-Israeli citizens confront democratic instability tied to proposed judicial reforms, compounded by collective trauma following the October 7th attacks. A total of 303 Arab-Israeli citizens ( M = 36.05, SD = 11.33) and 272 Jewish-Israeli citizens ( M = 44.69, SD = 14.06) completed an online survey. Findings supported the hypothesised model in both groups. Collective discontinuity predicted greater collective nostalgia, which in turn predicted ingroup protection intentions, both directly and indirectly through group-based anger towards the government. However, one group-specific pathway emerged: discontinuity → group-based anger → ingroup protection intentions among Jewish participants. We consider theoretical and practical implications of the findings
Anger · Collective action · Collective identity · Collective memory · Collective responsibility · Group cohesiveness · Ingroups and outgroups · Mediation · Perception · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social and Intergroup Psychology
Nostalgia as a Resource for Psychological Health and Well‐Being
The theory of constructed emotion
Dynamics of Group-Based Emotions
Identity Motives
Longing for the country's good old days
Finding Meaning in Nostalgia
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis
Self and Collective
Relative Deprivation
Intergroup Threat and Outgroup Attitudes
Perceived threat, injustice appraisal and willingness to join progressive collective action
“My story is not my own”
Between Holocaust and National Tragedy – The Case of Israel
Perceived Group Continuity, Collective Self-Continuity, and In-Group Identification
Nostalgia and temporal self-appraisal
Nostalgia fosters self-continuity
The mnemonic mover
The appraisal basis of anger
A dynamic model of engagement in normative and non-normative collective action
The presence of the past
Beyond the group mind
Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self
Collective nostalgia is associated with stronger outgroup-directed anger and participation in ingroup-favoring collective action
An Attack on the Rule of Law in Israel
Justification of intergroup violence among Israeli Jews
Effect of collective continuity on individual well-being
Emotion regulation among Bedouin teachers in Israel
Nostalgia as a vehicle for improving relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs
National nostalgia
Fighting the future with the past
Perceived collective continuity and social well‐being
Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness
What mediation analysis can (not) do
Dropping the weight stigma
Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion
Daniel Bar‐Tal, on the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict, before and after October 7, 2023
Intergroup emotions
Beat them or ban them
Explaining radical group behavior
Collective nostalgia
Regaining In-Group Continuity in Times of Anxiety About the Group's Future
Toward a comprehensive and potentially cross-cultural model of why people engage in collective action
Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action
A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Aggressiveness in the Workplace
Violence and Organized Crime Among Palestinians in Israel
Experimentally Increasing Self-Continuity Improves Subjective Well-Being and Protects against Self-Esteem Deterioration from an Ego-Deflating Task
From the presence of absence to the absence of presence
Red zone blues
Nostalgia, Social Connectedness, and Acculturation Orientation Among Syrian Refugees
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |