Pamphlets of the Committee on Public Information and the Construction of an American National Identity during World War One

In 1917, the United States was far from a cohesive entity. Using the events surrounding World War One as a natural laboratory to trace the construction of a unified American identity, this article adds to the debate on the political sociology of identity frames and nationalism. Using an event-frame - model to analyze the discourse reflected in pamphlets disseminated by the Wilson administration, I demonstrate how identity frames evolved and increasingly relied on enemy images to strengthen the in-group coherence of American citizens. Thus, paying attention to the political dynamics of frame evolution is crucial in understanding the emergence of salient identities

Adversary · Aesthetics · Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy · Computer security · Content analysis · Event (particle physics · Frame (networking · Frame analysis · Identity (music · Linguistics · Media studies · National identity · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Salient · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics