Social Identifications

A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes

Dominic Abrams, Michael A. Hogg

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781134986477
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Histoire et théorie en psychologie

The authors of Social Identifications set out to make accessible to students of social psychology the social identity approach developed by Henri Tajfel, John Turner, and their colleagues in Bristol during the 1970s and 1980s. Michael Hogg and Dominic Abrams give a comprehensive and readable account of social identity theory as well as setting it in the context of other approaches and perspectives in the psychology of intergroup relations. They look at the way people derive their identity from the social groups to which they belong, and the consequences for their feelings, thoughts, and behaviour of psychologically belonging to a group. They go on to examine the relationship between the individual and society in the context of a discussion of discrimination, stereotyping and intergroup relations, conformity and social influence, cohesiveness and intragoup solidariy, language and ethnic group relations, and collective behaviour.
Social Identifications fills a gap in the literature available to students of social psychology. The authors' presentation of social identity theory in a complete and integrated form and the extensive references and suggestions for further reading they provide will make this an essential source book for social psychologists and other social scientists looking at group behaviour.

1

Introduction

There was here a Nazi extermination camp between July 1942 and August 1943. More than 800,000 Jews from Poland, USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Austria, France, Belgium and Greece were murdered. On 2 August 1943, the prisoners organized an armed revolt which was crushed in blood by the Nazi hangmen.

This chilling message is inscribed in six different languages on six large stones which stand sentinel in the silence of the forest near the small village of Treblinka in Poland. It documents the systematic premeditated extermination of human beings at the rate of 2,200 each day. While the gas chambers were reaping their grim harvest of human life at Treblinka, so too were they at Maidanek, Sobibor, Chelmo, Belzec, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, and many others. In Auschwitz alone, more than 2,000,000 people were exterminated between January 1942 and the summer of 1944. The magnitude of human suffering is simply beyond comprehension; it is mind-numbing in its enormity.

This is genocide—the ultimate expression of prejudice and discrimination. It is intergroup behaviour at its most horrific extreme: the attempted annihilation of an entire race. But it is only the tip of the iceberg of people’s inhumanity toward their own kind: hatred, domination, subjugation, exploitation, degradation, oppression, and extermination are the hallmarks of history. And yet, people are perhaps the most sociable of all creatures: delighting in and thriving upon the company of others. They not only spend the overwhelming part of their waking lives in the presence of others, but more fundamentally they are products of history, culture, and society. They are socially constructed. Their views, opinions, values, activities, and means of communication are learnt or acquired from others. Their behaviour is largely governed by norms, or agreements between people, concerning appropriate or acceptable ways to behave and opinions to hold under particular circumstances. Without such agreement, communication, which lies at the core of human existence, would be impossible—it depends upon the existence of an agreed-upon set of rules, or a grammar.

How can we explain the apparent paradox of how the cohesion required for social existence can coexist with the divisions in society? In this book we confront the issue by focusing upon the social psychological nature of group membership. We try to understand the social psychology of people in groups—their intergroup and their intragroup behaviour. In particular, we present a specific approach to this analysis which we feel represents a promising advance on existing social psychological approaches. This is the social identity approach.

Let us return to the paradox. The key to a solution lies in the fact that, while a society is made up of individuals, it is patterned into relatively distinct social groups and categories, and people’s views, opinions, and practices are acquired from those groups to which they belong. These groups can be considered to have an objective existence to the extent that members of different groups believe different things, dress in different ways, hold different values, speak different languages, live in different places, and generally behave differently. Some groups endure over many generations, others are relatively transitory; some are vast with many many millions of members, others are extremely small; some are very prestigious, others are treated with contempt. There are often striking differences between national groups (Italians, Germans), religious groups (Buddhist, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic), political groups (socialist, conservative), ethnic groups (Tamils and Singalese in Sri Lanka), sex groups (male, female), tribal groups (Karen, Lahu, Akha in Thailand), youth groups (punk, skinhead), university faculty groups (Science, Arts, Law), and so on. Small decision-making groups also have their own relatively unique ways of operating and norms of conduct, as do occupational groups. The important point is that the groups to which people belong, whether by assignment or by choice, will be massively significant in determining their life experiences.

It is now only a small step to recognize that groups have a profound impact on individuals’ identity. That is, people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how they relate to others (whether members of the same group—ingroup—or of different groups—outgroup), is largely determined by the groups to which they feel they belong. While this may be very vivid in the case of, for example, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, it can also be observed at the level of short-lived decision-making groups in business organizations, relatively transient committees, and in the instant comaraderie felt among strangers brought together on a package tour. The question that arises is how do people identify with a group, and precisely what are the consequences of such identification?

This is essentially a social psychological question as it pivots on the issue of how society bestows self-conception; how it constructs individuals through the mediation of groups represented by normative or consensual practices, and how in turn individuals recreate these groups. It addresses how ‘Each of us changes himself, modifies himself to the extent that he changes and modifies the complex relations of which he is the heart’ (Gramsci 1971:352). It asks what are the psychological and social psychological processes involved in the relationship between individuals and groups, and what factors govern the form taken by relations between groups. What determines whether intergroup relations are hostile, competitive, and antagonistic or whether they are co-operative and relatively amicable? These questions lie at the very heart of social psychology, and address perhaps some of the most important phenomena of human existence, such as identity, the self, group solidarity, international relations, prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, conformity, and collective behaviour (riots, demonstrations, etc.).

Although, as we show in this book, social psychology tackles these issues and has advanced our understanding, it tends to make a distinction between the study of, on the one hand, large-scale social categories (race, sex, nation, etc.), and, on the other, small collections of individuals who are in the same place at the same time and who are all interacting mutually with each other. Traditionally, social psychology only considers the latter to constitute a group. It explains group behaviour in terms of interaction between individuals, and largely fails to consider the way that groups furnish individuals with an identity. That is, the emphasis is on the individual in the group. Of course, this perspective makes it very difficult to deal with large-scale group phenomena and with the societal construction of self. We are, however, very optimistic, since over the last fifteen years or so a new approach has gradually developed in social psychology which turns the traditional perspective on its head and focuses on the group in the individual. This is the social identity approach.

The central tenet of this approach is that belonging to a group (of whatever size and distribution) is largely a psychological state which is quite distinct from that of being a unique and separate individual, and that it confers social identity, or a shared/collective representation of who one is and how one should behave. It follows that the psychological processes associated with social identity are also responsible for generating distinctly ‘groupy’ behaviours, such as solidarity within one’s group, conformity to group norms, and discrimination against outgroups. Furthermore, this perspective has enormous potential for improving and extending the explication of an array of phenomena which have traditionally been approached by social psychology from a more ‘interpersonal’ perspective. The purpose of this book is to show how the social identity approach can dramatically enhance and enrich an understanding of social groups.

In Chapter 2 we focus on theory. We describe the social identity perspective in terms of its various assumptions and its specific theoretical propositions. The main aim of this chapter is to provide the foundation on which all subsequent chapters build. A second and very important aim is to locate the social identity perspective in the broader framework of social psychology and the social sciences. We therefore spend some time at the outset discussing contrasting perspectives on human behaviour in both social psychology and social theory, and identifying their relative strengths and weaknesses. On this basis we furnish an historical context for the social identity approach, spell out its metatheoretical underpinnings, and propose ways in which it represents an advance on other social psychological approaches.

While later chapters can be read in isolation, they are designed to be read always in conjunction with Chapter 2 and assume a familiarity with the critical context of the approach and its theoretical premises. Each chapter is designed to show how the social identity perspective contributes to our understanding of a specific psychological issue, and to extend and elaborate those aspects of theory relevant to that issue. The general format of these chapters is one in which the issue and its importance in social psychology and everyday life is stated, traditional social psychological approaches are described and critically discussed, limitations are located in a relatively general critique of certain approaches to social psychology (spelt out in detail in Chapter 2), the contribution of the social identity approach is discussed and evaluated both theoretically and empirically, and prospects and future directions for the social identity perspective in the area and in related areas are considered. However, it should be noted that each of these later chapters can stand on its own as a relatively detailed critical overview of social psychological theory and research in the area covered by the chapter. Taken together they cover a large portion of the social psychology of group phenomena.

Chapter 3 deals with intergroup behaviour: the manner in which individuals relate to one another as members of different groups. This chapter discusses intergroup discrimination, relative deprivation, competition and co-operation, status and power, and other intergroup phenomena. Chapter 4 extends the analysis of intergroup relations by examining stereotyping: the way groups are perceived. We discuss the shared nature of social stereotypes and the way in which people can assign these stereotypes to themselves. We examine the way in which stereotypes are embedded in social representations or ideologies associated with social categories and how they are related to causal attributions. We also discuss the structure of stereotypes, the stereotypic content of social beliefs, and the nature of prejudice.

We then shift emphasis to what goes on inside groups, that is on intragroup behaviour. Chapter 5 addresses the question of what determines group solidarity or cohesiveness, and confronts the question of how, in a psychological sense, a group comes into being. What transforms an aggregate of unrelated individuals into a distinct social group with its own defining characteristics? In dealing with these issues we discuss communication networks and structures in small groups, leadership patterns, group productivity, decision-making groups, and the impact of group norms on all these.

Chapter 6 continues the emphasis on life within the group, but this time we discuss social presence and social performance; the focus is on the person in the group and the impact of the psychological presence of group members on the motivation and behaviour of the individual, rather than on intragroup processes. We examine how theories of social facilitation, social impact, self-awareness, and self-presentation contribute to our understanding of individuals’ behaviour in group contexts, such as negotiation and bargaining.

In Chapter 7 we deal with the social behaviour of the group as a whole. We explore the bases of collective behaviour: protests, demonstrations, riots, revolutions, and examine the extent to which classical theories of the crowd, theories of de-individuation, self-awareness, numerical distinctiveness, and blind conformity are successful in accounting for forms of collective behaviour.

Right at the heart of social behaviour lies social influence, the process through which people affect each others’ opinions and behaviours. This important issue is discussed in Chapter 8, where we focus specifically upon the influence process associated with conformity to group norms. After discussing the contribution of traditional perspectives on conformity, we show how the social identity perspective changes our understanding of social influence and an array of conformity phenomena: group polarization in decision-making groups, leadership, brainwashing, and active minorities sponsoring social change.

The major vehicle of social influence is communication. In Chapter 9 we discuss communication but principally dwell upon language. Speech style and language can function as some of the most potent symbols of identity, so it is not at all surprising that the social identity perspective is of great utility in understanding an array of sociolinguistic phenomena.

The final chapter () functions as a short summary and overview, in which we integrate the various themes and strands of the social identity approach and then illustrate it with, and apply it to, a concrete intergroup context, that of the relations between the sexes. We are brief and descriptive—painting a broad canvas in bold strokes, rather than constructing a detailed technical drawing—because the aim is to convey something of the way in which the social identity approach as an integrated whole can be, and is, employed to explicate the behaviour of ‘real’ social categories. The chapter closes with some conclusions concerning the relative advantages of the social identity approach in comparison to other approaches discussed in the book. We also specify those areas where we feel current and future initiatives in social identity theory and research are being taken.

2

The social identity approach: context and content

The group spirit, the idea of the group with the sentiment of devotion to the group developed in the minds of all its members, not only serves as a bond that holds the group together or even creates it, but…it renders possible truly collective volition.

(McDougall 1921:63)

The group spirit, involving knowledge of the group as such, some idea of the group, and some sentiment of devotion or attachment to the group, is then the essential condition of all…collective life, and of all effective collective action.

(ibid.: 66)

There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially and entirely a psychology of individuals. Social psychology…is a part of the psychology of the individual.

(Allport 1924:4)

To answer the question where this mental structure of the group exists, we must refer…to the individual. [It is] learned by each individual from the specific language and behaviour of other individuals. Where such continuity of social contact ceases the organized life of the group disappears. Were all the individuals in a group to perish at one time, the so-called ‘group mind’ would be abolished forever.

(ibid: 9)

These extracts deal with what has been called the ‘master problem’ of social psychology, namely the relationship between the individual and the group. The prototypical opposing positions are represented above by William McDougall and Floyd Allport: group behaviour is qualitatively different from individual behaviour, and the group is somehow contained in the mind of the individual group member and influences behaviour accordingly; versus, group behaviour is individual behaviour among many individuals who are in the physical presence of each other—the group is a nominal fallacy.

In discussing intergroup behaviour and group processes we confront this controversy head on. Are groups merely aggregates of individuals in which the normal processes of interpersonal behaviour operate in the usual way but among a larger number of people, or do groups represent modes of interaction and thought which are qualitively distinct from that involved in interpersonal interaction? In the present chapter we introduce the concept of social identity as a means of resolving this issue.

Introduction

Social identity is defined as ‘the individual’s knowledge that he belongs to certain social groups together with some emotional and value significance to him of the group membership’ (Tajfel 1972a: 31), where a social group is ‘two or more individuals who share a common social identification of themselves or, which is nearly the same thing, perceive themselves to be members of the same social category’ (Turner 1982:15). These quotations convey some fundamental aspects of the social identity approach. Identity, specifically social identity, and group belongingness are inextricably linked in the sense that one’s conception or definition of who one is (one’s identity) is largely composed of self-descriptions in terms of the defining characteristics of social groups to which one belongs. This belongingness is psychological, it is not merely knowledge of a group’s attributes. Identification with a social group is a psychological state very different from merely being designated as falling into one social category or another. It is phenomenologically real and has important self-evaluative consequences.

In this chapter we present the social identity approach, its assumptions, its theoretical propositions, and its scope. This is intended to be a theory chapter to equip the reader f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The social identity approach: context and content
• 3. Intergroup behaviour
• 4. From stereotyping to ideology
• 5. Intragroup behaviour: processes within groups
• 6. Social presence and social performance
• 7. Collective behaviour
• 8. Conformity and social influence
• 9. Language, speech, and communication
• 10. Conclusions
• References
• Author index
• Subject index