Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation

Sociology Identity
by
Angie Andriot, Timothy J. Owens

Introduction

We outline four identity theories typically employed by contemporary social psychologists: personal identity, role identity, social identity, and collective identity. Personal identity (see [Personal] Identity Theory), the most elementary of the four identities, was pioneered by American sociological social psychologists (SSPs), particularly Sheldon Stryker. SSPs emphasize how demographic, social, and cultural factors affect human social interaction. Personal identity is what makes every person unique, defining them through their specific biographies (e.g., name, birthplace), unique characteristics (e.g., intelligent, athletic), role identities (e.g., daughter, employee), and particular combination of private and public experiences. Role identify (see Role Identity Theory), also pioneered by American SSPs, particularly George J. McCall and J. L. Simmons, is inspired by the language of dramaturgy. Role identity is defined as the role (or character) people play when holding specific social positions in groups. It is relational, since people interact with each other via their own role identities. Social identity (see Social Identity Theory), pioneered by European psychological social psychologists, particularly Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, emphasizes how a person’s cognition, affect, and personality traits affect immediate person-to-person social interactions and vice versa. It is the part of an individual’s self-concept formed through the knowledge of his or her membership in meaningful social groups and organizations (e.g., Kiwanis Club, the Cleveland City Club) and categories (e.g., Native American, northerner). In short, it is through our public selves that we are able to simplify the world around us by using categorizations to infer our similarities and differences to other people. Finally, collective identity (see Collective Identity Theory), also pioneered by European psychological social psychologists, especially Alberto Melucci, is the self in action. Collective identities are especially important to social movement participants, political activists, and others banding together to fight for or against social change by working on shared goals and action plans. In short, it is a process by which a set of individuals interacts to create a shared sense of identity or group consciousness.

General Overviews

Given identity’s currency in contemporary social psychology, it is surprising that there are not more identity-centered books accessible to students and professionals alike. The reason is likely the fact that several aspects of identity are currently in use by social psychologists, especially personal identity, role identity, social identity, and collective identity, thus hampering unified treatments of identity’s many faces. Intradisciplinary boundaries between the structural and processual wings of sociological social psychology and interdisciplinary boundaries between psychological and sociological social psychologists have also made integrated overviews difficult. See Thoits and Virshup 1997 for a welcome exception. The nesting of identity within broader notions of the self and self-concept, and the tendency for some researchers to use “self” and “identity” interchangeably, have also posed problems. Nonetheless, there are accessible works available. Two perennial and influential sociological favorites on identity are McCall and Simmons 1978, out of print but widely available on the used book market, and Stryker 2002. George J. McCall and J. L. Simmons entertain both structural and processual symbolic interactionist viewpoints, while Sheldon Stryker focuses exclusively on a structural symbolic interactionist view of identity. Two additions to identity overviews are MacKinnon and Heise 2010 and Burke and Stets 2009. Perinbanayagam 2000 offers a view of identity primarily through the lens of processual symbolic interactionism and semiotics, rhetoric, and discourse analysis that is quite distinct from the others in this section. Even though the authors are not specifically recognized as identity theorists, Goffman 1959 and Rosenberg 1979 provide useful insights into identity from broader contexts of processual symbolic interactionism (Goffman 1959) and social structure and personality (Rosenberg 1979).

  • Burke, Peter J., and Jan E. Stets. 2009. Identity theory. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This overview of identity is centered on Burke and Stets’s identity control theory (see Identity Control Theory); nonetheless, the authors provide well-written discussions of the various forms of identity.

    Find this resource:

  • Goffman, Erving. 1959. The presentation of the self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Goffman’s classic analysis of the theatrical character of people’s everyday social lives.

    Find this resource:

  • MacKinnon, Neil J., and David R. Heise. 2010. Self, identity, and social institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This monograph, while building on earlier work in affect control theory (see Affect Control Theory), proposes a new theory of the self. While affect control theory emphasizes the way people confirm their identities through the selection and enactment of role-appropriate actions, the new theory is more broadly about the self. Specifically, people confirm their selves by selecting and enacting identities.

    Find this resource:

  • McCall, George J., and J. L. Simmons. 1978. Identities and interactions: An examination of human associations in everyday life. New York: Macmillan.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    First published in 1966, this is a clearly written and comprehensive book-length treatise on the foundation and many facets of both processual and structural symbolic interactionist viewpoints on roles and identities. This much-cited book is particularly known for its erudite introduction to the authors’ seminal sociological social psychological role identity theory.

    Find this resource:

  • Perinbanayagam, R. S. 2000. The presence of self. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The winner of the 2001 Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, the book draws on ideas from the pragmatist philosophers and philosophers of language to provide a unique view of identity and “beingness of the human individual” (book jacket).

    Find this resource:

  • Rosenberg, Morris. 1979. Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The concept of psychological centrality views the self as an interrelated system of hierarchically organized components (e.g., identities and personal attributes). Psychological centrality helps people protect their self-concepts by pushing potentially damaging self-components to the periphery of the self system while holding self-enhancing ones closer to the center.

    Find this resource:

  • Stryker, Sheldon. 2002. Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Caldwell, NJ: Blackburn.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This clear depiction of identity from a structural symbolic interactionist viewpoint explores its historical roots from philosophy to contemporary sociology. A particular merit of the book is that its breadth and depth are understandable to undergraduates while being useful to professionals interested in knowing more about the roots of Stryker’s identity theory.

    Find this resource:

  • Thoits, Peggy A., and Lauren K. Virshup. 1997. Me’s and we’s: Forms and functions of social identities. In Self and identity: Fundamental issues. Edited by R. D. Ashmore and L. Jussim, 106–133. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This much-cited chapter provides an outstanding overview of several theories of identity from sociology to psychology.

    Find this resource:

Textbooks

Several introductory social sociology textbooks at least touch on aspects of identity. However, because most try to cover a wide array of social psychological topics, few give adequate introductions to identity. Jenkins 2008 offers a rare exception by focusing exclusively on identity. Hewitt and Shulman 2011, in its eleventh edition, provides a popular introduction to symbolic interactionism with extensive discussions of identity. Rohall, et al. 2007 and Sandstrom, et al. 2009 also pay attention to identity but in a more limited way than Hewitt and Shulman 2011.

  • Hewitt, John P., and David Shulman. 2011. Self and society: A symbolic interactionist social psychology. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A classic introduction to self and identity through the lens of symbolic interactionism, including the self’s formation and link to identities, roles, social settings, and deviant behavior among other topics.

    Find this resource:

  • Jenkins, Richard. 2008. Social identity. 3d ed. London: Routledge.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Written by a sociologist, this textbook tackles social identity in its many forms, including its origins and applications to everyday life.

    Find this resource:

  • Rohall, David E., Melissa A. Milkie, and Jeffrey W. Lucas. 2007. Social psychology: Sociological perspectives. Boston: Pearson Education.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This textbook is unique in its coverage of the three faces of sociological social psychology: symbolic interactionism, social structure and personality, and group processes. The discussion of self and identity is succinct and useful.

    Find this resource:

  • Sandstrom, Kent L., Daniel D. Martin, and Gary Alan Fine. 2009. Symbols, selves, and social reality: A symbolic interactionist approach to social psychology and sociology. 3d ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The authors provide a succinct and affordable introduction to symbolic interactionism, primarily from its processual wing.

    Find this resource:

Edited Volumes and Handbooks

Five edited volumes, two edited by sociological social psychologists (Stryker, et al. 2000; Burke, et al. 2003) and three by psychological social psychologists (Ashmore and Jussim 1997, Brewer and Hewstone 2004, Leary and Tangney 2005), offer thorough scholarly introductions to the main subfields of identity with links to social behavior and emotional and psychological well-being.

  • Ashmore, Richard D., and Lee Jussim, eds. 1997. Self and identity: Fundamental issues. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Provides a sweeping overview of self and identity, from historical treatments to contemporary concerns. Contains nine chapters by leading psychological and sociological social psychologists.

    Find this resource:

  • Brewer, Marilynn B., and Miles Hewstone, eds. 2004. Self and social identity. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Contains thirteen chapters by many leading psychological social psychologists. Topics range from self-concept and self-esteem to collective identity and devalued identities.

    Find this resource:

  • Burke, Peter J., Timothy J. Owens, Richard T. Serpe, and Peggy A. Thoits, eds. 2003. Advances in identity theory and research. New York: Kluwer/Plenum.

    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-9188-1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Presents thirteen chapters by leading sociological social psychology identity researchers organized in four sections: “Sources of Identity,” “Identities and Social Structure,” Identities, Emotions, and Health,” and “Multiple Identities.”

    Find this resource:

  • Leary, Mark R., and June Price Tangney. 2005. Handbook of self and identity. New York: Guilford.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The editors employ thirty-two chapters to overview and assimilate theory and research on the self, including identity primarily but not exclusively, by psychological social psychologists. Sociological social psychologists will nonetheless benefit from this handbook.

    Find this resource:

  • Stryker, Sheldon, Timothy J. Owens, and Robert W. White, eds. 2000. Self, identity, and social movements. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Includes fifteen chapters, each of which employs at least two forms of identity (personal and social or collective) in theoretical or empirical research on social movements.

    Find this resource:

Journals

Although research on identity can be found in a wide variety of major sociology generalist journals (e.g., the American Sociological Review) and regional journals (e.g., Sociological Quarterly), it can also be found in specialty journals (e.g., Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly). Its popularity, however, has warranted the establishment of two specialty journals expressly devoted to the identity topics: Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research and Self and Identity. Journals primarily from a psychological perspective periodically carry research on identity (e.g., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology).

Theoretical Foundations

Much of the contemporary work on identity (and self) stems from symbolic interactionism and the early theorists who helped lay its foundation. James 1890 observes that a person “has as many social selves as there are persons who recognize him and carry an image of him in their mind” (p. 294; emphasis in original). Here “social self” is roughly equivalent to one’s role identity (e.g., wife, priest) and in part to what is now referred to as “social identity” (African American, senior citizen). Following James 1890, Cooley 1902 outlines the “looking-glass self” (i.e., the reflexive self), and Mead 1934 distinguishes between the “I,” the self that does the thinking, acting, and planning; and the “me,” the totality of one’s self views learned by interacting with others and assuming the role of the other (i.e., one’s self-concept). The key is being able to see oneself as an object, as if from the outside or from another person’s perspective, and human language that allows humans to label and categorize themselves and the surrounding world. Empirically oriented work on self and identity, however, did not flourish in sociology until after its post–World War II renaissance as a methodologically rigorous discipline (Martindale 1981) and psychology’s cognitive revolution in the 1950s (Gardner 1987). From those foundations, see the sections (Personal) Identity Theory, Role Identity Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Collective Identity Theory and three that are informed by them, Affect Control Theory, Identity Control Theory, and Identity Accumulation Theory.

  • Cooley, Charles Horton. 1902. Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribner.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Cooley’s landmark book on the emergence of sociological social psychology as well as the introduction to the “the looking-glass self,” the author’s best-known theory.

    Find this resource:

  • Gardner, Howard. 1987. The mind’s new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York: Basic Books.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The book is particularly useful for its history of psychology’s backlash against behaviorism, which helped set forth psychological social psychology studies of the self.

    Find this resource:

  • James, William. 1890. The principles of psychology. New York: Henry Holt.

    DOI: 10.1037/11059-000Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    James’s classic on, among many topics, the human self, social identity, and the first formulation of self-esteem.

    Find this resource:

  • Martindale, Don. 1981. The nature and types of sociological theory. 2d ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A classic intellectual history of sociological theory, used by generations of sociologists, that is comprehensive yet written clearly and succinctly. The backgrounds of the humanist and scientific traditions of social theory are fairly depicted.

    Find this resource:

  • Mead, George Herbert. 1934. Mind, self, and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Edited by C. W. Morris. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The book, taken from notes of Mead’s famous University of Chicago lectures, is the foundational piece for symbolic interactionism and the study of the self.

    Find this resource:

(Personal) Identity Theory

According to Sheldon Stryker’s identity theory, as outlined in Stryker 1968 and Stryker 2003, the self consists of a set of identities organized into a hierarchy—termed identity salience—that are based on their relative probability of activation in a given situation. In turn, identity salience is determined by a person’s interactional commitment (the extensiveness of interactions in a social network to which one belongs by virtue of having an identity) and affective commitment (the emotional significance that others in a social network have for a person via his or her particular identity).

  • Stryker, Sheldon. 1968. Identity theory and role performance. Journal of Marriage and the Family 30:558–564.

    DOI: 10.2307/349494Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The publication that introduced Stryker’s identity theory.

    Find this resource:

  • Stryker, Sheldon. 2003. Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Caldwell, NJ: Blackburn.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    First published in 1980 and here including a new foreword by the author, this compact and highly readable monograph has, from the outset and through successive reprintings, become a landmark exposition on the structural wing of symbolic interactionism for students and professionals alike. Heavily cited, the book has also introduced Stryker’s seminal identity theory to generations of psychological and sociological social psychologists.

    Find this resource:

Extensions of Personal Identity Theory

Stryker’s identity theory has been tested, expanded, and generally employed by several researchers, including newer theories by David R. Heise, Peggy A. Thoits, and Peter J. Burke discussed in later sections. Three specific, notable tests and extensions of his theory are Serpe 1987, Stryker and Serpe 1994, and Ervin and Stryker 2001. Serpe 1987 introduces a clear emotional dimension to commitment to one’s role identity (affective commitment), while Stryker and Serpe 1994 compares and contrasts two concepts that are related yet distinct: identity salience (the probability that a particular identity will be activated in some situation) and psychological centrality (how important a given identity or personal attribute is to one’s self-concept). Erwin and Stryker 2001 combines aspects of salience and centrality to identity’s influence on self-esteem. Stryker 2008 brings classic and contemporary views of symbolic interactionism to bear on current self and identity research.

Affect Control Theory

From its beginning with Heise 1977 and Heise 1979 and through its elaboration and maturation in the 1980s and 1990s with publications such as MacKinnon 1994 and Smith-Lovin and Heise 1988, affect control theory (ACT) has been among the most vigorously researched and systematic identity-based theories in sociological social psychology (see David R. Heise’s website Affect Control Theory). And because it started with the Osgood, et al. 1975 elaborate atlas of sentiments people have toward hundreds of concepts in more than a dozen culture/language communities, ACT is also one of the most cross-cultural. ACT proposes that emotions act as signals to the self when people interact with each other via their various role identities (Heise 1979). The signals operate within a feedback, or cybernetic, loop (Powers 1973). ACT begins with the notion that people carry within themselves culturally significant fundamental meanings about themselves (e.g., funny, unattractive), about other people via their roles and identities (e.g., trustworthy, annoying), about objects (e.g., desirable, fragile), and about behaviors (e.g., aggressive, loud). The notion of fundamental meanings is inspired by the work in Osgood, et al. 1957 and Osgood, et al. 1975. Transient meanings, on the other hand, refer to perceptions people have in specific situations, which may be consistent or inconsistent with the fundamental meanings. When fundamental meanings and transient meanings mesh, the person feels emotions that are consistent with his or her self-identity. In sociological terms, society tends to be more enduring and stable at the individual level when fundamental and transient meanings are consistent across interaction situations or when people can fix minor inconsistencies by making quick adjustments to bring divergent meanings into some kind of balance. In periods of social upheaval or rapid social change, divergent meanings would be at odds for a significant number of people.

Identity Control Theory

Identity control theory (ICT) (Burke 1991), as it is commonly referred to, extends Sheldon Stryker’s personal identity theory (see [Personal] Identity Theory) by tracking identity dynamics as individuals interact moment by moment within a social situation. Like affect control theory (see Affect Control Theory), ICT is informed by William T. Powers’s (see Powers 1973, cited in Affect Control Theory) cybernetic control model. When people interact with others, ICT maintains that people compare their own role identity behavior (e.g., a father cooing to his baby) to an identity standard (e.g., fathers are supposed nurture their children), judging their success in achieving the standard via reflected appraisals in terms of their interpretation of the reactions of interaction partners (e.g., the baby giggles and an onlooker smiles). In this case the interaction continues smoothly. If the identity standard is violated, however, a correction may be necessary to bring the interactions—and their meanings—into alignment. If not, a negative emotional reaction may occur.

Role Identity Theory

McCall and Simmons 1978 argues that an individual’s many role identities are organized into a hierarchy of prominence that reflects the relative value a particular role identity has for an individual’s overall conception of self. Among other things, role identities “give the very meaning to our daily routine, for they largely determine our interpretations of the situations, events, and other people we encounter” (McCall and Simmons 1978, pp. 69–70; emphasis in original). Role identity theory has informed a number of sociological identity theories, including affect control theory (see Affect Control Theory) and identity accumulation theory (see Identity Accumulation Theory) but especially identity accumulation theory.

  • McCall, George J., and J. L. Simmons. 1978. Identities and interactions: An examination of human associations in everyday life. New York: Free Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    First published in 1966, the book is a clearly written and comprehensive treatise on the foundation and many facets of both processual and structural symbolic interactionist viewpoints on roles and identities. This much-cited book is particularly known for its erudite introduction to the authors’ seminal sociological social psychology role identity theory.

    Find this resource:

Identity Accumulation Theory

Peggy A. Thoits’s identity accumulation theory (Thoits 1983, Thoits 1986, Thoits 2003) is strongly informed by both identity theory (see [Personal] Identity Theory) and role identity theory (see Role Identity Theory). Unlike these theories, however, identity accumulation theory emphasizes that multiple role identities are a resource a person can use to foster his or her emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. From this perspective, people can move between—or employ—their various role identities to blunt the effects of role strain or conflict on feelings of stress, strain, and emotional distress and to foster their self-esteem. As Ahrens and Ryff 2006 points out, more roles can provide beneficial social connections. The theory involves two key assumptions. First, by addressing the question “Who am I?,” identities give the person meaning and purpose. This idea is a fundamental aspect of symbolic interaction and harkens back to Kuhn and McPartland 1954. Second, by answering the question “What should I do?,” roles can provide the person with structure and organization, thereby clarifying expectations and fostering self-certainty in stressful or ambiguous role situations.

Extensions of Identity Accumulation Theory

Early 21st-century studies support multiple role identities in lowering emotional distress (Kikuzawa 2006), physical health problems (Janzen and Muhajarine 2003), or both (Barnett and Hyde 2001). Looking at race and ethnicity, Jackson 1997 found that multiple role identities were associated with lower depression and greater happiness among non-Hispanic white and Mexican American men and women but not African Americans. A cross-cultural and life course dimension has also been added (Kikuzawa 2006). Saeko Kikuzawa linked role accumulation (e.g., community volunteer, parent, and spouse) to positive mental health outcomes among older Americans. For older Japanese, however, any roles beyond either spouse or parent had no impact on well-being. Brook, et al. 2008, however, notes studies showing increased or prolonged depression when a person is overwhelmed by the multiple role identities. They believe that understanding why multiple identities can sometimes have benefits while at other times they have liabilities may be found in the mediating effect of positive or negative emotions on the interactions between the number of identities a person holds, their subjective importance to the person, and how harmoniously they interact with one another.

  • Barnett, Rosalind Chait, and Janet Sibley Hyde. 2001. Women, men, work, and family: An expansionist theory. American Psychologist 56:781–796.

    DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.56.10.781Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A critical review of classic and contemporary theory and research on the lives, relationships, and work of women and men, this finds them wanting, especially as they inform clinical practice. The authors offer an “expansionist theory of gender, work, and family that includes four empirically derived and empirically testable principles better matched to today’s realities” (p. 781).

    Find this resource:

  • Brook, Amara T., Julie Garcia, and Monique Fleming. 2008. The effects of multiple identities on psychological well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34.12: 1588–1600.

    DOI: 10.1177/0146167208324629Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The effect of multiple identities on psychological well-being is proposed to depend on the number of identities, the identities’ importance, and the relationship among them.

    Find this resource:

  • Jackson, Pamela Braboy. 1997. Role occupancy and minority mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 38.3: 237–255.

    DOI: 10.2307/2955369Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Added the importance of race to identity accumulation theory.

    Find this resource:

  • Janzen, Bonnie L., and Nazeem Muhajarine. 2003. Social role occupancy, gender, income adequacy, life stage, and health: A longitudinal study of employed Canadian men and women. Social Science and Medicine 57:1491–1503.

    DOI: 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00544-0Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A study of the relationship between social role occupancy and health status over time. Rather counterintuitively, women occupying three roles simultaneously (wife, mother with children at home, and worker) reported better health than women occupying one or two roles.

    Find this resource:

  • Kikuzawa, Saeko. 2006. Multiple roles and mental health in cross-cultural perspective: The elderly in the United States and Japan. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 47:62–76.

    DOI: 10.1177/002214650604700105Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Examines the effect of multiples roles (family, work, community volunteer) on the mental health of older Japanese and Americans. The researchers found the multiple roles were less beneficial to elder Japanese’s mental health than multiple roles were to Americans’ mental health.

    Find this resource:

Social Identity Theory

Tajfel and Turner 1986 outlines social identity theory as being concerned with when and why individuals identify with various social groups and organizations but especially interactions and encounters with other people based on their putative demographic categories, such as race, religion, and ethnicity. Furthermore, Tajfel 1981 outlines how, according to social identity theory, group members preserve their positive social identity by positively stereotyping their group (in-group) and by negatively stereotyping others. Of particular interest to social identity theorists is understanding intergroup meaning and action when individuals encounter someone presumed to be affiliated with a social identity that is different from their own in personally relevant ways. Intergroup conflict is of special interest to social identity theorists. Turner, et al. 1987 extends social identity theory to incorporate self-categorization theory, a theory focused on how cognitive processes allow people to simplify the world around them by distinguishing themselves from other groups via perceptions, identity announcements, and acts of speech. Self-categorization theory is an attempt to bridge personal identity and social, showing how the situation influences the level of self-categorization we choose and how our choices in self-categorization then influence our participation in a situation.

  • Tajfel, Henri. 1981. Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The book presents an integrated overview of social psychological studies (primarily experimental) on conflicts between social groups, a bedrock interest of social identity researchers. The book has also garnered wide interest from political and social scientists alike.

    Find this resource:

  • Tajfel, Henri, and J. C. Turner. 1986. The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In Psychology of intergroup relations. 2d ed. Edited by S. Worschel and W. G. Austin, 7–24. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    First published in 1979, this highly influential chapter introduced social identity theory (over four thousand citations to date).

    Find this resource:

  • Turner, John C., Michael A. Hogg, Penelope J. Oakes, Stephen D. Reicher, and Margaret S. Wetherell. 1987. Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Good, integrative overview of self-categorization theory.

    Find this resource:

Extensions of Social Identity Theory

Although European psychological social psychologists laid social identity theory’s foundation (Tajfel 1981 and Tajfel and Turner 1986, cited in Social Identity Theory), sociological social psychologists have increasingly begun to utilize it (e.g., Lawler, et al. 2009), as have people in business schools (Rao, et al. 2003). Within a qualitative methods framework, Luttrell 1989 provides a compelling analysis of adult-learner working-class women’s social and personal identities across racial and ethnic lines and how they think about learning and knowing. In a different vein, Schnittker 2002 uses the social identity of Chinese immigrants to analyze the joint relationships between acculturation and neighborhood ethnic composition and the subjects’ self-esteem.

  • Lawler, Edward J., Shane R. Thye, and Jeongkoo Yoon. 2009. Social commitments in a depersonalized world. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The authors provide a synthesis between social exchange theory and social identity theory and a link to the structural foundations of groups.

    Find this resource:

  • Luttrell, Wendy. 1989. Working-class women’s ways of knowing: Effects of gender, race, and class. Sociology of Education 62:33–46.

    DOI: 10.2307/2112822Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    An examination of how the intersection of race, social class, and gender influences the generation and maintenance of epistemologies, specifically among black and white working-class women. Also discusses the consequences of how these ways of knowing conflict with dominant epistemological ideologies.

    Find this resource:

  • Rao, Hayagreeva, Philippe Monin, and Rodolphe Durand. 2003. Institutional change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle cuisine as an identity movement in French gastronomy. American Journal of Sociology 108.4: 795–843.

    DOI: 10.1086/367917Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The authors use interview data from elite nouvelle cuisine chefs, gastronomic critics, and faculty at leading culinary schools to connect social movement theory and social identity theory. In doing so, they demonstrate that “identity competition hinges on identity-discrepant cues that jeopardize the social identity of existing members and promote social mobility” (p. 836).

    Find this resource:

  • Schnittker, Jason. 2002. Acculturation in context: The self-esteem of Chinese immigrants. Social Psychology Quarterly 65:56–76.

    DOI: 10.2307/3090168Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Using a sample of adult Chinese immigrants, Schnittker examines the effects of English language use on self-esteem. Immigrants primarily using English have higher self-esteem than those who primarily use Chinese. English language use is related most positively to self-esteem in predominantly non-Chinese neighborhoods, and Chinese cultural participation is related positively to self-esteem only in predominantly Chinese neighborhoods.

    Find this resource:

  • Stryker, Sheldon, Timothy J. Owens, and Robert W. White, eds. 2000. Self, identity, and social movements. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Each author uses at least two forms of identity (personal and social or collective) in theoretical or empirical research on social movements. Cross-fertilization of theoretical perspectives was a particular goal. Many of the chapters are written by leading identity and social movement theorists.

    Find this resource:

  • Thoits, Peggy A., and Lauren K. Virshup. 1997. Me’s and we’s: Forms and functions of social identities. In Self and identity: Fundamental issues. Edited by R. D. Ashmore and L. Jussim, 106–133. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    An integrative, readable, and frequently cited paper on individual and group-oriented identities.

    Find this resource:

  • van Zomeren, Martijn, Martin Tostmes, and Russell Spears. 2008. Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio- psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin 134.4: 504–535.

    DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.504Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The authors employ meta-analyses of perceived injustice, efficacy, and identity on collective action in a test of an integrative social identity model of collective action (SIMCA). All three predictors had unique effects on collective action. The authors discuss key implications for theory, practice, future research, and further integration of social and psychological perspectives on collective action.

    Find this resource:

Collective Identity Theory

Providing definitive statements on collective identity theory is a daunting task because so many people, reaching back at least to the 1960s, have laid its groundwork. Melucci 1989 and Melucci 1996 are two particularly influential publications, each cited several thousand times, and are good starting points. Nonetheless, Taylor and Whittier 1992 poses a three-step process of collective identity formation sufficient for our purposes here: “(1) the creation of boundaries that insulate and differentiate a category of persons from the dominant society; (2) the development of consciousness that presumes the existence of socially constituted criteria that account for a group’s structural position; and (3) the valorization of a group’s ‘essential differences’ through the politicization of everyday life” (p. 122). Additionally, Eisenstadt and Giesen 1995 presents a typological model for analyzing collective identity, focusing on three forms of boundary construction: primordial, civic, and cultural. Primordial boundaries focus on shared racial, ethnic, and kinship ties. Civic boundaries are based on informal rules of conduct, social routines, and traditions. Cultural codes refer to the group’s collective conscience (shared values and beliefs and notions of the sacred and profane). All three refer to in-group and out-group membership or “we’s and me’s” (Thoits and Virshup 1997, cited in General Overviews). As such, primordial answers the stipulation “You have to be our race/ethnicity to be one of us”; civic says “You have to act like us to be one of us”; and cultural equates to “You have to believe what we believe to be one of us.”

Extensions of Collective Identity Theory

With the burgeoning of collective identity theory and research, choosing representative works can be a daunting task. Six suffice for our current task. Azzi, et al. 2010 covers several aspects of identity, especially collective identity, in social movements from an interdisciplinary and international array of writers. Klandermans 1997, by one of the field’s most prolific researchers and theorists, offers an authoritative accounting of collective identity. Polletta and Jasper 2001 is an authoritative review article and an indispensable resource for those interested in collective identity and action. Ogbu 2004, by an anthropologist, focuses on race and presents a model of oppositional collective identity, which John U. Ogbu uses to clarify and extend his controversial “acting white” thesis. While the vast majority of sociology books on identity come from a quantitative point of view, Holstein and Gubrium 1999 offers a useful alternative from the processual, qualitative wing of symbolic interactionism (see also Luttrell 1989, cited in Extensions of Social Identity Theory).

  • Azzi, Assaad E., Xenia Chryssochoou, Bert Klandermans, and Bernd Simon, eds. 2010. Identity and participation in culturally diverse societies: A multidisciplinary perspective. New York: Wiley.

    DOI: 10.1002/9781444328158Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Many critics are calling this volume a groundbreaking work, an interdisciplinary and international volume on how identity influences social movement recruitment, activism, and maintenance.

    Find this resource:

  • Holstein, James A., and Jaber F. Gubrium. 1999. The self we live by: Narrative identity in a postmodern world. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Taking issue with postmodernist views of a self adrift and compromised by myriad mass society influences, the authors offer a theoretically based view of narrative constructions of identity, including collective identity. A rare treatment of identity from a qualitative sociological point of view.

    Find this resource:

  • Klandermans, Bert. 1997. The social psychology of protest. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This overview of the development of social participation and mobilization continues Klandermans’s decades-long work on bridging American and European traditions of research on social movements, including social and collective identity.

    Find this resource:

  • Ogbu, John U. 2004. Collective identity and the burden of “acting white” in black history, community, and education. Urban Review 36:1–35.

    DOI: 10.1023/B:URRE.0000042734.83194.f6Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Outlines how collective identity differs from other forms of identity and presents a model of oppositional collective identity among black Americans. This article is an extension and clarification of Ogbu’s controversial “acting white” hypothesis.

    Find this resource:

  • Polletta, Francesca, and James M. Jasper. 2001. Collective identity and social movements. Annual Review of Sociology 27:283–305.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.283Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Seeks to remedy the problem of collective identity in social movement and resource mobilization research being “treated both too broadly and too narrowly, sometimes applied to too many dynamics, at other times made into a residual category within structuralist, state-centered, and rationalist accounts” (p. 283).

    Find this resource:

LAST MODIFIED: 04/24/2012

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756384-0025

back to top