Social Identity

Two empirical studies investigated the relation between different types of social groups and four core types of ingroup identification. It was hypothesized that particular types of group would be associated with particular types of ingroup identification. With minor discrepancies across samples, participants showed stronger social identification with social category groups, stronger communal identification with intimacy groups, and stronger interdependent identification with task groups. The results confirmed predictions and provided sufficient evidence to conclude that the manifestation of different types of ingroup identity varies as a function of the type of group that is most salient at the moment of identification.

Researchers have argued that, depending on the framing of the Northern Ireland conflict, each group could either be a minority or a majority relative to the other. This complicates macrosocial explanations of the conflict which make specific predictions on the basis of minority or majority positions. The present paper argues that this conundrum may have arisen from the inherent variability in microidentity processes that do not fit easily with macroexplanations. In this paper the rhetoric of relative group position is analysed in political speeches delivered by leading members of an influential Protestant institution in Northern Ireland. It is apparent that minority and majority claims are not fixed but are flexibly used to achieve local rhetorical goals. Furthermore, the speeches differ before and after the Good Friday Agreement, with a reactionary "hegemonic" Unionist position giving way to a "majority-rights power sharing" argument and a "pseudo-minority" status giving way to a "disempowered minority" argument. These results suggest a view of the Northern Ireland conflict as a struggle for "symbolic power," i.e., the ability to flexibly define the intergroup situation to the ingroup's advantage.

This paper contributes to the science of crowd dynamics and psychology by examining the social psychological processes related to the relative absence of "hooliganism" at the Finals of the 2004 Union Européenne de Football Association (UEFA) Football (Soccer) Championships in Portugal. Quantitative data from a structured observational study is integrated with data from a questionnaire survey of a group associated ubiquitously with 'hooliganism' -namely England fans. This analysis provides support for the contention that the absence of 'disorder' can be attributed in large part to the non-paramilitary policing style adopted in cities hosting tournament matches. Evidence is presented which suggests that this style of policing supported forms of non-violent collective psychology that, in turn, served to psychologically marginalise violent groups from the wider community of fans. The study highlights the mutually constructive relationships that can be created between psychological theory, research, policing policy and practice, particularly in relation to the successful management of 'public order'. The paper concludes by exploring some of the wider implications of this research for theory, policy, the management of crowds, social conflict, and human rights more generally.

L’affermazione dei regimi popolari alla metà del duecento rappresentò un’importante cesura nell’evoluzione politico-istituzionale dei comuni dell’Italia centro-settentrionale e nel processo di formazione e consolidamento dei gruppi dirigenti cittadini. Ciò nonostante, la storiografia comunalistica della seconda metà del novecento ha avuto la tendenza a sminuire l’originalità e la carica innovativa delle esperienze popolari sottolineando piuttosto la permanente centralità politica, economica ma soprattutto culturale dell’antica aristocrazia cittadina. Questo articolo prende in considerazione alcuni importanti comuni di Popolo – Firenze, Siena, Pisa, Bologna, Perugia – cercando di dimostrare come taluni elementi tradizionalmente portati a sostegno dell’interpretazione «continuista» delle vicende tardoduecentesche si prestino anche ad una lettura alternativa che metta piuttosto in luce la novità dell’esperimento politico e culturale portato avanti dai gruppi dirigenti popolari.

This paper presents new findings about individual disengagement from violent extremism in a Western context. Despite enormous investment of the last two decades in responses to terrorism, the exit and reintegration processes of extremists back into the community are not well understood. Whilst most extremists struggle with the transition back into society, most eventually move on with their lives, becoming citizens again. Most do so unassisted. Therefore, studying the phenomenon of natural disengagement is a critical avenue to understanding why people choose to leave, how they leave, how they reconnect and what areas of their lives undergo change in doing so. Fifteen themes emerged directly from the transcripts of 22 interviews with former extremists from a range of different ideological backgrounds. These themes clustered into five domains which collectively represent the phenomenological essence of disengagement from extremism, including subsequent re-engagement with society. A key finding is that sustained disengagement is actually about the proactive, holistic and harmonious engagement the person has with wider society afterwards. Building on existing empirical research, this paper proposes a tentative five-domain, three-level model of disengagement called the Pro-Integration Model.

The aim of this paper is to study from an anthropological perspective the formation of identities in the Canadian tv-series Vikings (2013- ), created by Michael Hirst for The History Channel. With this purpose, we use a textual methodology of the most relevant fragments. The discussion of the results is organized around one main core point that shape the construction of identities in this show: power.

Most people who join radical or extreme groups leave at some stage. In the landscape of violent extremism and radicalisation, the exit phenomenon is not well understood, though it seems there are common elements in the experience of those who leave different types of closed and/or radical groups. In the context of political terrorism, there is an urgent need to better comprehend the factors and processes involved in leaving extreme groups and reintegrating with the wider community. For example, just how easy or hard is it to leave voluntarily? What can be done to minimise further radicalisation if a person is extracted forcibly from a group? What factors promote or hinder reintegration? Issues of identity, belonging and purpose are prevalent in the personal accounts of most ex-members of politically extreme groups. The basic argument of this paper is that social identity mechanisms implicated in radicalisation may also constitute a significant and essential component of disengagement, deradicalisation and reintegrationboth as a cause and as a consequence. Prevention policies and disengagement interventions can only be successful if we understand how and why people leaving violent and extreme groups.

The book is devoted to the analysis of ethno-linguistic and socio-cultural foundations of the identity of Dagestanis. The author discribres
particularities of  ethno-linguistic situation in the Mountainous and Lowland districts of Dageston, the influence of migration, urbanization, ethnic mixations on the cultural and language identity,  as well as the correlation of ethnic and religious identitues,  forms of actualization of ethnic and civil  consciousness,  ethnic stereotypes and other components of consciousness of Dagestanis. Special attention is paid to the problem of preserving the language diversity and cultural identity of the peoples of Dagestan.The book is intended for anthropologists, historians, philologists.
culture and a wide range of readers interested in Etnea-
takovymi and ethno-cultural problems.

Ce travail présente une analyse des processus d'identification/ interpélation idéologique qui sont à l'origine de la constitution des identités instables et contradictoires des "camelôs". À partir des rapports que les "camelôs" entretiennent avec l'espace public, ils sont pris, dans ce travail, comme des sujets. Le corpus est constitué de différents types de texte: articles de presse, textes légaux et textes du syndicat. Les analyses portent sur le fonctionnement des processus de désignation qui mettent en scène des dispositifs de subjectivisation intervenant dans les processus identitaires. Il est établit aussi un rapport entre ce fonctionnement et les lieux d'énonciation, qui se présentent comme des mécanismes de légitimation sociale du dire. de designação, referenciação, argumentação, quantificação, silenciamento, discurso urbano, conflitos sociais, mídia, cidade, espaço público.

Identities, people’s subjectively construed understandings of who they were, are, and desire to become, are implicated in, and thus key to understanding and explaining, almost everything that happens  in and around organizations. The research contribution that this review paper makes is threefold. First, it analyses the often employed but rarely systematically explored concept identity work, and argues that it is one metaphor among many that may be useful in the analysis of professional and more generally work identities. Second, it focuses on five fundamental, inter-connected debates in contemporary identities research centred on notions of choice, stability, coherence, positivity, and authenticity. Third, it outlines the roles that the concept identity work may play in bridging levels of analysis and disciplinary boundaries, and sketches some possible future identities-focused ideas for further research. Under-specification has meant that ‘identity’ has not always fulfilled its analytical promise in either theoretical explorations of identities issues or in empirical studies of identities in practice; and it is to these ends that this paper seeks to contribute.

This book provides an introduction to political psychology through a focus on European politics and topics. It describes a style of doing political psychology in Europe that has developed out of dialogue with as well as critique of North American approaches. By emphasising the theoretical and methodological diversity of political psychology, the book is intended to contribute to a greater understanding of the strength and utility of the field. • Opens up and extends the study of political psychology to a variety of socio-political contexts and manifestations of political behaviour • Clearly outlines the usefulness and promises of distinctive critical approaches in social and political psychology • Explicitly considers the role of language, communication, identity and social representations in the construction of political meanings. Political Psychology will appeal to upper-level students and scholars who seek to extend their knowledge of the complex relationship between psychology, politics and society.

“Power is war, the continuation of war by other means”: Foucault’s reversal of Clausewitz’s formula has become a staple of critical theory — but it remains highly problematic on a conceptual level. Elaborated during Foucault’s 1976 lectures (“Society Must Be Defended”), this work-hypothesis theorises “basic warfare” [la guerre fondamentale] as the teleological horizon of socio-political relations. Following Boulainvilliers, Foucault champions this polemological approach, conceived as a purely descriptive discourse on “real” politics and war, against the philosophico-juridical conceptuality attached to liberal society (Hobbes’s Leviathan being here the prime example).
However, in doing so, Foucault did not interrogate the conceptual validity of notions such as power and war, therefore interlinking them without questioning their ontological status. This problematic conflation was partly rectified in 1982, as Foucault proposed a more dynamic definition of power relations: “actions over potential actions”.
I argue, somewhat polemically, that Foucault’s hermeneutics of power still involves a teleological violence, dependent on a polemological representation of human relations as essentially instrumental: this resembles what Derrida names, in “Heidegger’s Ear”, an “anthropolemology”. However, I show that all conceptualisation of power implies its self-deconstruction. This self-deconstructive (or autoimmune) structure supposes an archi-originary unpower prior to power: power presupposes an excess within power, an excessive force, another violence making it both possible and impossible. There is something within power located “beyond the power principle” (Derrida). This (self-)excess signifies a limitless resistantiality co-extensive with power-relationality. It also allows the reversal of pólemos into its opposite, as unpower opens politics and warfare to the messianic call of a pre-political, pre-ontological disruption: the archi-originary force of différance. This force, unconditional, challenges Foucault’s conceptualisations of power, suggesting an originary performativity located before or beyond hermeneutics of power-knowledge, disrupting theoreticity as well as empiricity by pointing to their ontological complicity.
The bulk of this essay is dedicated to sketching the theoretical implications of this deconstructive reading of Foucault with respect to the methodology and conceptuality of political science and social theory.

Abstract: In this paper, we outline a number of features of an interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach to economics. As a suitable example of how an interdisciplinary cooperation can unfold, we focus attention on the relations between institutional economics and psychoanalysis. In the first ...

Based on the recently proposed Interactive Model of Identity Formation, we examine how top-down deductive and bottom-up inductive identity formations influence intentions and behaviour in multiparty negotiations. Results show that a shared identity can be deduced from the social context through recognition of superordinate similarities. However, shared identities can also be induced by intragroup processes in which individuals get acquainted with one another on an interpersonal basis. Both top-down and bottom-up processes led to the formation of a sense of shared identity, and this in turn exerted a positive influence on behavioural intentions and actual behaviour in multiparty negotiations. The Interactive Model of Identity Formation (IMIF) suggests that there are two theoretically distinct pathways to the formation of a sense of shared (social) identity. The classic perspective on social identities is that they are inferred deductively from the broader social context within which the group members act. However, in smaller groups where members can readily interact and observe each others' actions, a sense of shared identity can also form inductively through a reconciliation of differences and the establishment of interpersonal relations (Postmes, Haslam, & Swaab, 2005a; Postmes, Spears, Novak, & Lee, 2005b). Although this theoretical framework has received some initial support in small group settings, several questions remain unanswered. One purpose of this paper is thus to provide direct evidence of the occurrence of these two processes. The setting in which this prediction is tested is that of multiparty negotiations. A key challenge to most negotiations is to align individual and group interests. Doing so requires individual negotiators to recognize some overarching commonalties leading them to pursue outcomes that benefit themselves as well as others. We propose that a shared identity may provide just this (see also Swaab, Postmes, Van Beest, & Spears, 2007), regardless of how this shared identity was formed (i.e. deductively or inductively). The second purpose of the present paper is therefore to examine whether different paths to shared identity formation produce essentially similar consequences for group members' collaborative behaviour in a multiparty negotiation.

Disability studies and critical trauma studies are both deeply concerned with the social construction of meaning and identity. However, these disciplines often remain mutually disengaged, inadvertently overlooking shared mechanisms of oppression that foster stigma. This article explores the novel depiction of disability and trauma in the play Amy and the Orphans by Lindsey Ferrentino. Amy, a character with Down syndrome, challenges disability stereotypes by exercising autonomy; she is not solely defined by her disability or her experiences of abuse. The theatrical narrative is one of both disability and trauma, encouraging a nuanced reflection on the origins of stigma and revealing how theatre can be used as a tool of resistance to reclaim agency through performances that challenge conventional 'disability' stereotypes.

A distinguishing feature of virtual communities is their sense of community, i.e., their participants' feelings of membership, identity, influence, and attachment with each other. This study tests a model in which members' perceptions of the group's norms mediate the relationships between supporting each other and identifying each other with the members' sense of virtual community. Two studies were conducted providing partial support for the model. The results show that the perception of norms mediate the relationship between SOVC and (a) observing and publicly exchanging support, (b) perceiving that others know one's identity, and (c) using technical features to learn and create identity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

What are the mechanisms by which societal discrimination affects individual achievement, and why do the effects of past discrimination endure once legal barriers are removed? We report the findings of two experiments in village India that suggest that the mechanisms of discrimination operate, in part, within the individuals who are members of the groups who have been discriminated against. We demonstrate that publicly revealing an individual's membership in such a group alters his behavior in ways that make the effects of past discrimination persist over time.

We examined possible explanations for the underrepresentation of women among university faculty, in two different national contexts. In the Netherlands, a sample of doctoral students (N = 132) revealed no gender differences in work commitment or work satisfaction. Faculty members in the same university (N = 179), however, perceived female students to be less committed to their work and female faculty endorsed these gender-stereotypical perceptions most strongly. A second study, in Italy, replicated and extended these findings. Again no gender differences were obtained in the self-descriptions of male and female doctoral students (N = 80), while especially the female faculty (N = 93) perceived female students as less committed to their work than male students. Additional measures supported an explanation in social identity terms, according to which individual upward mobility (i.e. of female faculty) implies distancing the self from the group stereotype which not only involves perceiving the self as a non-prototypical group member, but may also elicit stereotypical views of other in-group members.

Some people with dementia are transformed by the disease, to the point that family members may describe them as a “different person.” These transformations may be negative or positive. What factors affect the judgements of ordinary people about whether an advance directive (AD) should be followed in such cases? We conducted three studies to test the influence of (1) positive versus negative transformation and (2) “treat” versus “withhold treatment” AD on the judgements of US participants (n = 1676) as to whether the AD should be followed and the extent to which the late-stage dementia patient had become a different person. We found that participants generally endorsed following the AD, irrespective of condition, but much less so when the patient had a positive transformation. Participants also favored “treat” over “withhold treatment” ADs. Unexpectedly, we found that AD type affected “different person” judgments: participants registered significantly weaker agreement with the propos...

Sur le fil L'identité professionnelle des gestionnaires des organisations de la santé : un sale boulot requérant un courage managérial ? The professional identity of managers of health care organizations : dirty work that requires managerial courage ? La identidad profesional de los administradores de organizaciones de salud : un trabajo sucio que requiere un coraje de gestión ?

The purpose of this article is to describe the effect of age on the use and impact of social networks in the Dominican youth. The data was gathered through an online survey from a sample of 435 subjects. The questionnaire was built after a qualitative phase with four focus groups. The research included as independent variables Socioeconomic status, Sex and Age, but here we only reported the results related to differences among the considered groups of age: 11-15, 16-20, 21-25 and 26 to 35 years.The group from 11 to 15 years showed a more positive attitude to social networks, as well as more vulnerability, than the older users. Although the majority of the users said social networks increase acquaintances, but no close friends, limits physical socialization, cause addiction and social isolation, the youngest ones said that the networks help us to know us better and to approach others.

 This article draws on a study of doctors' experiences of clinical managing to highlight research conventions that limit the development and use of middle range theories in grounded studies. Using sensemaking and the psychological contract as example frameworks, we illustrate how customary deductive evaluations of middle range theories turn grounded researchers away from theory building. As a correction to these conventions, we offer an inductive approach to building existing theory in grounded investigations that does not depend solely on working with frameworks under different empirical conditions. We suggest that forward theorizing is most likely to progress from a synthesis of fitted explanation and prospective thinking that presses at the limits of the data's usefulness. To illustrate this approach, trialled thinking about novel theoretical juxtapositions and alternative sources was used in conjunction with our clinical director data. The value of this approach was supported in two ways. First, a number of fitted and prospective conjectures are offered about how social identity articulates with psychological contracts and sensemaking in role change situations. Second, new light is shed on the process by which particular social conditions differentially modify employees' social categorizations, and how these inform employee responses to the evolving experience of role change. The article concludes with some tentative proposals for promoting more discussion of theory building in grounded investigations.

To cite this Article Aresti, Andreas, Eatough, Virginia and Brooks-Gordon, Belinda(2010) 'Doing time after time: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of reformed ex-prisoners' experiences of self-change, identity and career opportunities', Psychology, Crime & Law, 16: 3, 169-190 To link to this Article:

Visual anonymity had no effect on self-categorization in terms of a wider social category (nationality). Predictions derived from alternative perspectives that visual anonymity decreases group attraction by increasing impersonal task focus or by attenuating evaluation concerns were not supported.

The unprecedented economic growth and immigration that Ireland experienced between 1995 and 2007 did not only challenge national but also ethnic, social, and gender identities. The contributions to this volume explore how films tackle these challenges and help to make sense of Ireland’s altered position in a globalised world. Among the films discussed are some of the most critically acclaimed Irish films of recent years, including Once (2006), Adam & Paul (2004), Garage (2007), and The Secret of Kells (2009), as well as the work of Oscar-winning director and writer Neil Jordan. The volume is completed by an extensive interview with award-winning director Lenny Abrahamson, and his collaborator, screenwriter and actor Mark O’Halloran.

We examined possible explanations for the underrepresentation of women among university faculty, in two different national contexts. In the Netherlands, a sample of doctoral students (N = 132) revealed no gender differences in work commitment or work satisfaction. Faculty members in the same university (N = 179), however, perceived female students to be less committed to their work and female faculty endorsed these gender-stereotypical perceptions most strongly. A second study, in Italy, replicated and extended these findings. Again, no gender differences were obtained in the self-descriptions of male and female doctoral students (N = 80), while especially the female faculty (N = 93) perceived female students as less committed to their work than male students. Additional measures supported an explanation in social identity terms, according to which individual upward mobility (i.e. of female faculty) implies distancing the self from the group stereotype which not only involves percei...

This study examines, in soccer fanzines, two identity-management strategies-basking in reflected glory (BIRGing) and blasting-of two groups of highly identified soccer fans with allegiance to the same team. Results show strong support for the BIRG phenomenon among both ultra fan groups but little evidence of the blasting phenomenon among either group. The implications of these findings are discussed in regard to social identity management among sports fans.

1. The relation between attachment styles and fear of personal death was assessed. We classified a sample of Israeli undergraduate students into secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment groups and assessed the extent of, and the meaning attached to, overt fear of personal death as well as the extent of fear at a low level of awareness. Ambivalent subjects exhibited stronger overt fear of death than did secure and avoidant subjects, and both ambivalent and avoidant subjects showed stronger fear of death at a ...

La trajectoire d’Albert Widders, Aborigène australien, permet d’historiciser le modèle ségrégatif qui a dominé le Sud-Est de l’Australie au XXe siècle. Sa vie semble en effet avoir été coupée en deux par l’apparition d’un ordre ségrégatif. Né dans les années 1840, Albert était, dans la première partie de sa vie, assez bien intégré au monde des colons blancs, au point d’épouser une femme européenne. Suite à l’effondrement de son mariage, il a cependant quitté la région et formé une nouvelle famille, cette fois avec une femme aborigène. De ces deux mariages sont issues deux « branches » d’une famille – l’une dans le monde aborigène, l’autre dans le monde « européen » – dont les destins sociaux contrastés permettent d’appréhender avec un regard nouveau les transformations des relations raciales en Australie du Sud-Est, marquées par l’avènement, au XXe siècle, d’une dichotomie rigide séparant « Noirs » et « Blancs ».

We address some problems of network aggregation that are central to organizational studies. We show that concepts of network equivalence (including generalizations and special cases of structural equivalence) are relevant to the modeling of the aggregation of social categories in cross-classification tables portraying relations within an organizational field (analogous to one-mode networks). We extend our results to model the dual aggregation of social identities and organizational practices (an example of a two-mode network). We present an algorithm to accomplish such dual aggregation. Within the formal and quantitative framework that we present, we emphasize a unified treatment of (a) aggregation on the basis of structural equivalence (invariance of actors within equivalence sets), (b) the study of variation in relations between structurally equivalent sets, and (c) the close connections between aggregation within organizational networks and multi-dimensional modeling of organizational fields.

The technologies that in the last ten years affected our life and the social dynamics have highlighted an unavoidable collision between the real and the virtual world. They seem to mesh up in a new territory made by stories and imaginaries, in which the concepts of local and global overlap and the plural identities left place to heterogeneous fluxes of tales and signs.

""L’objectif est de mettre au jour la construction de l’événement dans sa rhétorique et sa performance, sa diffusion médiatique et sa reconnaissance sociale. Comment la production discursive autour de la Marche des Fiertés 2011 interroge-t-elle les enjeux
de représentations – et donc l’identité LGBT et l’action du mouvement ?

L’étude du cas de 2011 permet d’interroger les potentialités médiatiques et communicationnelles du discours polémique. Pourquoi y a-t-il eu polémique ? Quels enjeux cristallise l’affiche ? Y a-t-il réellement eu polémique ? En quoi les discussions
suscitées par l’affiche de l’édition 2011 de la Marche des Fiertés révèlent les enjeux de l’événement qu’elle est censée promouvoir ? Finalement, en quoi « l’affaire de l’affiche » marque-t-elle une rupture et témoigne-t-elle (déjà) des transformations
du « répertoire d’action collective » [Tilly, 1986] ?

La polémique autour de l’affiche implique différents acteurs : l’Inter-LGBT, les associations LGBT, l’agence créative, les journalistes et, dans un second temps, le grand public. J’ai analysé le conflit interprétatif à travers le prisme du temps (la
durée) et celui des médias (la capacité à diffuser). J’ai étudié ce cas de manière diachronique, en tenant compte des trois dimensions de « l’affaire de la Marche des Fiertés 2011 » : en amont, en nous intéressant aux raisons et conditions de
conception de l’affiche (entretiens avec des membres de l’Inter-LGBT et l’agence créative chargée de la conception de l’affiche) ; en suivant le déroulé de l’affaire, en considérant les acteurs et les espaces médiatiques mobilisés ; et en aval, en
analysant la reconnaissance de l’affiche (test de l’affiche).

Si à ses débuts la Gay Pride était subversive – au sens strict puisqu’illégale –, elle fait aujourd’hui partie du calendrier festif parisien. La montée en généralité opérée dans le discours d’accompagnement, et notamment le passage de l’homosexualisation de l’espace public à sa sexualisation tout court, réinterrogent cette subversion dans le cadre du mouvement LGBT.

Le discours d’escorte participe à la représentation du groupe cible en ce qu’il le raconte : un système complexe de discours polyphoniques s’articule selon une double logique identitaire et médiacentrique. La polémique autour de l’affiche de la Marche 2011 participe de ce discours et voit dans le médiatique sa modalité privilégiée. Avec la polémique – médiatique – comme cadre, l’affiche 2011 devient prétexte à des discours identitaires qui la dépassent : l’objet de la dispute s’éloigne du visuel-affiche pour venir se placer au niveau plus global de la représentation
du mouvement LGBT, représentation mise en tension entre l’idéologie d’une organisation militante et les réactions-commentaires polémiques du public à travers
les médias – sociaux. Il s’agit alors de distinguer l’objectif des médias de « faire polémique », les effets involontaires d’une communication inappropriée et les objectifs stratégiques que pourrait avoir une organisation militante à exploiter les
potentialités communicationnelles d’une polémique médiatique.

Finalement, dans le discours d’escorte de la Marche des Fiertés LGBT, la représentation des sexualités alternatives – et de la sexualité en général – n’est plus un signe subversif mais un signe de reconnaissance et un mécanisme de captation,
elle correspond à un horizon d’attente, à une demande sociale.

Mots clés : polémique, médias, représentation, sexualité, mouvement LGBT, militantisme""