Patriotism means constitutional loyalty while nationalism means tribal loyalty against an outgroup

Evidence

Patriotism, as the political philosopher Steven Smith explains, is first and foremost “loyalty … to one’s constitution or political regime.” Nationalism is loyalty to one’s tribe “but always at the expense of an outgroup, who are deemed un-American, traitors, and enemies of the people.” One reason the two sometimes get confused, as historian Jill Lepore explains, is that nationalism often disguises itself as patriotism: “Because it’s difficult to convince people to pursue a course of aggression, violence, and domination … nationalists pretend their aims are instead protection and unity and that their motivation is patriotism. This is a lie. Patriotism is animated by love, nationalism by hatred. To confuse the one for the other is to pretend that hate is love and fear is courage.” — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 51

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharp, citable conceptual distinction between patriotism (constitution-regime loyalty) and nationalism (tribal loyalty against outgroups) with Lepore’s memorable closing aphorism.
• CANDY: Lepore’s line ‘To confuse the one for the other is to pretend that hate is love and fear is courage’ is a tweetable encapsulation of the love-vs-hate distinction.
• XREF: connects to: Patriotism as critical attachment can be distinguished from chauvinistic nationalism; Patriotism and nationalism are distinct dimensions of group identification with opposing effects — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2113; Nationalism masquerades as patriotism by claiming defensive aims — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 51 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Patriotism as critical attachment can be distinguished from chauvinistic nationalism #corroborates (0.85)
• Patriotic sentiment remains conceptually or empirically separable from destructive nationalism in practice #corroborates (0.85)
• Patriotism and nationalism are distinct and potentially separable sentiments. #corroborates (0.82) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 470
• Patriotism and nationalism are distinct dimensions of group identification with opposing effects #complicates (0.75) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2113
• Nationalism masquerades as patriotism by claiming defensive aims #qualifies (0.72) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 51