Imagining a Nation: A Social Representation Analysis of the ‘Idea of India’ in Contemporary Times

ABSTRACT

The present research explored how different age cohorts conceptualize the ‘Idea of India’ through the lens of the social representations theory (SRT). Data were collected for three age cohorts—young adults (18–24 years), working adults (25–50 years) and older adults (50 + years). In total, 300 participants were asked to perform a free association task, in which they provided five spontaneous ideas relating to India. Analysis using the structural approach was used as well as prototypical analysis to reveal both common core items and unique peripheral representations between generational groups. Findings showed a shared aspirational core across generations, with national prestige, modernization, social justice and cultural appreciation as the core concerns. There were, however, notable inter‐generational differences in both central and peripheral representational themes. Young adults stressed technological progress and international positioning, working adults economic progress and institutional solidity and older adults historical continuity and traditional values. This research contributes three important findings: (1) It presents exploratory evidence, within an urban middleclass sample from two Indian cities, of how national identity may be both shared and differentially constructed across age cohorts; (2) it illustrates the value of prototypical analysis in charting changing social representations of nationhood; and (3) it identifies particular points of convergence that may amplify inter‐generational dialogue. These findings offer a contextually bounded contribution to understanding national identity formation within educated urban populations and may inform social cohesion strategies that take into account generational perspectives, though broader applicability requires further research with more diverse samples.