Cultural diversity
Subjective criteria of national affiliation

‘What is important for being truly Swiss?’ 2003 (*German, Armerican, English, Spanish, French, Swedish) - Answers ‘very/fairly important’ in % by political orientation and country

Definitions/comments: Political orientation: Self-placement on scale from 0 (left) to 10 (right): left: Values 0–3; centre: values 4–6; right: values 7–10.

Question wording (Switzerland): ‘Some people say that the following things are important for being truly Swiss. Others say they are not important. How important do you think each of the following is? To have been born in Switzerland. To have Swiss citizenship. To have lived in Switzerland for most of one’s life. Te be able to speak one of the Swiss National languages (German or Dialect, French, Italian, or Rhaeto-Romansh). To be a Christian. To respect Swiss political institutions and laws. To feel Swiss. To have Swiss ancestry’. For the indicator, the two categories ‘To respect Swiss political institutions and laws’ and ‘To have Swiss ancestry’ have been selected with a factorial analysis.

Answer categories: ‘very important’, ‘fairly important’, ‘not very important’, ‘not important at all’. The percentages correspond to respondents considering the item to be (very/fairly) important.

Sample size: ISSP: 873–1669; weighted data.

Source: ISSP 2003.

Data for the indicator or in excel.

Description and explanation in the corresponding chapter of the Social Report 2008.