National identity longitudinally reinforced through museum tourism

Abstract

Employing Interaction Ritual Chains theory, this study examines how museum tourism reinforces collective national identity through mutual focus and emotional entrainment among visitors within shared ritual settings, and traces its post-visit continuity and sedimentation at the individual level. Interviews with 45 visitors and longitudinal tracking of 20 participants reveal that ritual elements generate collective identity products: emotional energy, group solidarity, sacred symbols, and moral outrage. These products translate into sustained behavioral tendencies, solidify into cognitive schemas, and deepen emotional attachment. The study identifies a situation-collective-individual pathway of identity reinforcement, demonstrating how museum tourism systematically shapes cognition, emotion, and behavior, reinforcing national identity at the collective level while enabling its sustained sedimentation at the individual level.