Evaluating the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Social Identity Theory

Personal and social identity is a fundamental unit for students as it provides a starting point for them to conceptualise how their personal experiences interconnects with public knowledge and understand the role of socialisation. As mentioned in the assessment the class consists of a diverse number of ethnic backgrounds and ability so this unit is crucial for them to understand how they fit in different social and cultural settings. In a way the diversity found in a class makes for an interesting interactions and discussions which will contribute to their understanding in the unit. This of course is limited by students ' willingness to share such information thus the activities in this unit have

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 59-86). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Tajfel & Turner, (1979) the proponents of social identity theory helped in the understanding of intergroup relations. The emphasis the complex “interweaving of an individual or interpersonal behavior with contextual social processes of intergroup conflict” (p.276). Social identity theory, thus emphasizes intergroup relations (the relationship an individual has with his group and between an outgroup) and categorical distinction (what sets an individual apart from another outgroup). Korostelina describes this as “the processes of identification with other group members” (p.23). Personal identities are consequently reflected in an individual’s social identity. For instance, an individual with an Islamic conviction cannot be found in a church

The third phase of the Social identity theory is comparison. This involves comparing the in-groups that you are a part of with out-groups in order to raise self-esteem (Burke, Stets,2000). Social groups naturally strive to be positively differentiated from other groups (Mummenfey, Kessler, Link, Mielke, 1999). In order to achieve this positive differentiation and boost in self- esteem, the in-group and out-group are judged on factors that represent the in-group to be superior to the out-group (Burke, Stets,2000). To enhance the position and status of the in-group, discrimination and prejudice will be shown towards the out-group.

Depersonalisation occurs when an individual identifies with a certain group as he/she adopts the group’s identity wherein his/her personal identity takes less priority and he/she tends to downplay his/her’s own personal attributes in favour of acquiring the group’s attributes (Swann Jr et al., 2009; Korte, 2007). An individual constructs meaning of this social identity through self-categorisation and adopts the appropriate behaviour that is expected and utilised within the group (Korte, 2007). This further suggests that individuals have the tendency to display behaviours that the group they identify with displays even if it conflicts with their personal identity (Korte, 2007). Also, the more salient an individual’s social identity, the more likely the

Tajfel (1979): “...Groups give us a sense of social identity”. Tajfel’s “Social Identity Theory” adores the performance of groups, whereby any one individual can elucidate their status by joining a band of individuals for the purposes of identifying with a group in order to enhance group supremacy. This is supported by Dutton. J. E., Dukerich. J. M., & Harquail. C. V., (1994) who in “Administrative Science Quarterly” argued that the work organization strengthens one’s identity within that circle of individuals. Therefore, the stronger one identifies with a group, the more likely they are to develop characteristics attributed for or towards that group.

The social theory perspective that intrigues me is the second process known as identification. After one finds a specific category/group identify with, the person adopts the identify of the group as their own. These identifications then become tied to the person’s emotional being as well as self-esteem. Moreover, if the identity of a person is compromised or threatened, positive and negative responses are likely to occur.

Social identity is a theory which explains how people develop a sense of belong and membership to a group. Individual’s social identity is part of their self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the emotional significance attached to that membership (Forsyth, 13). People are influenced on the group they belong to. Belonging to the in-group makes a person feel good because they belong somewhere in this group and allows them to feel important. The out-group is where people feel to be, they do not belong to a group and have feeling of exclusion and are often times treated more harshly than someone who belongs to the ingroup. This bias of favoring the ingroup relative to the outgroup leads to false impressions being made and stereotypes forming. Stereotypes help us navigate the world around us by providing a quick representation of what we think a person is like. This does not mean our perceptions are always correct and occasionally, this quick mental shortcut can get us into trouble. For example, the film 12 Angry Men stereotyping was rampant among the jury. When a stereotype is used it can cause a disruption of procedures. Instead, of inspecting all the evidence with an objective eye a bias can allow for systematic

The world has become modern and global. Identification of the self is a complicated, though, an important problem of every individual. Self- identity is based on inner values and reflections on culture, politics and social interactions. The main point is that people label themselves to any particular group in the society (Worchel etc., 1998). According to Ferguson: “Identity commonly refers to which it makes, or is thought to make

The social group we belong to helps to make our identity (Tajfel, 1974). These differences

Referring to the Social identity theory we assume that the differentiation between the ingroup and outgroups is motivated by the members’ desire to improve the evaluation of the ingroup and of their social identity. So, in other words in order to create a social identity a ingroup usually derogates the outgroup, especially in contexts where the groups are interwoven in a conflict

Social identity also influences group cohesion and dynamics based on the athlete’s self-concept in regards to how they value their attachment to the membership. If the athlete cannot maintain a positive self-concept based on their identity to the team or group, then their social identity will not be expressed as prosocial behavior (i.e., ingroup where athletes encourage nads provide support toward others), but instead antisocial (i.e., outgroup where vulgar, derogatory remarks and physical aggression could exist) (Bruner, Dunlop, & Beauchamp,

“cultural values and behaviors , sense of group membership and minority status experience (Haji et al 2011).Social identity theory (SIT) given by Tajfel and Turner, 1975 provided a framework for understanding cultural identity. According to this theory, social identity is a sense of belonging to a particular social category or group, and the importance of social identity depends upon the inter relation context as cited by (Haji et al, 2011) .So the culture or group that the person identifies with influences their pride and self esteem.

People who are in a group or belong to and even assigned to the group, they would naturally think of the member within that group as the in-groups while others outside the group would be the out-groups. This can be explained by social categorization. People would normally categorize other people into different categories, including themselves. And bond between the in-groups would form. This however, would develop a discrimination between the in-group and out-group where people would favor the in-group more. Social categorization can be seen in the study done by Cialdini et .al (1976). The main purpose of the study is to find out whether people would favor their own “in-group” members more than the other people, the “out-groups”. Researcher uses two methods. First, researchers find fans from 7 different large United State prestigious football universities in a field experiment. Researchers then observed the student’s

The social identity theory claims that a person’s identity is directly related to their dominant social groups. According to Jan Stets and Peter Burke of Washington University, social identity theory significantly overlaps with identity theory in its descriptions of concept, bases, and activation of identity. Stets and Burke claim social groups impact a person’s identity through that person’s self-categorization and social comparison: “much of social identity theory deals with intergroup relations – that is, how people come to see themselves as members of one group/category (the