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Showing papers on "Identity (social science) published in 2007"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the conceptualization and measurement of ethnic identity as a multidimensional, dynamic construct that develops over time through a process of exploration and commitment, and discuss the theoretical and empirical basis for understand- ing ethnic identity in a developmental process.
Abstract: In this article, the authors examine the conceptualization and measurement of ethnic identity as a multidimensional, dynamic construct that develops over time through a process of exploration and commitment. The authors discuss the components of ethnic identity that have been studied and the theoretical background for a developmental model of ethnic identity. The authors review research on the measurement of ethnic identity using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (J. Phinney, 1992) and present a revised version of the measure. The authors conclude with a consideration of the measurement issues raised by J. E. Helms (2007) and K. Cokley (2007) and suggestions for future research on ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is many faceted. This is made clear in the special issue of which this article is a part. But recognizing that ethnic identity has many facets is merely a start to understanding it. Ethnic identity derives from a sense of peoplehood within a group, a culture, and a particular setting. Yet ethnic identity is not merely knowledge and understanding of one's ingroup affiliations, even as such insights and comprehension are part of it. The achievement of a secure ethnic identity derives from experience, but experience is not sufficient to produce it. Because one's ethnic identity is con- structed over time, the actions and choices of individuals are essential to the process. Ethnic identity is distinct in some ways from other group identities, such as racial identity, but it also shares aspects of both personal and group identities. Our purpose in this article was to examine the conceptualization and measurement of ethnic identity from social psychological and developmental perspectives. We first review the various dimen- sions of ethnic identity that have been proposed in the literature. We then discuss the theoretical and empirical basis for understand- ing ethnic identity as a developmental process. We review research on the measurement of ethnic identity based on the widely used Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM, Phinney, 1992; Rob- erts et al., 1999), discuss recent measurement research that has led to a revision of the MEIM, and present a revised version of the MEIM. We conclude with a discussion of issues that might be profitably considered in future ethnic identity research, with a consideration of the ideas and recommendations offered by Helms (2007) and Cokley (2007). In keeping with the focus of the special issue, we discuss ethnic identity with reference to ethnic minorities in the United States.

1,769 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors presented a coherent set of empirical research standards for intersectionality in political science, including race and gender across subfields of political science to present a coherent framework for intersectional research.
Abstract: In the past twenty years, intersectionality has emerged as a compelling response to arguments on behalf of identity-based politics across the discipline. It has done so by drawing attention to the simultaneous and interacting effects of gender, race, class, sexual orientation,andnationaloriginascategoriesofdifference.Intersectionalargumentsandresearchfindingshavehadvaryinglevelsof impact in feminist theory, social movements, international human rights, public policy, and electoral behavior research within political science and across the disciplines of sociology, critical legal studies, and history. Yet consideration of intersectionality as a research paradigm has yet to gain a wide foothold in political science. This article closely reads research on race and gender across subfields of political science to present a coherent set of empirical research standards for intersectionality.

1,334 citations


BookDOI
21 Jun 2007
TL;DR: In the mid-1990s, scholars turned their attention toward the ways that ongoing political, economic, and cultural transformations were changing the realm of the social, specifically that aspect of it described by the notion of affect: pre-individual bodily forces, linked to autonomic responses which augment or diminish a body's capacity to act or engage with others.
Abstract: “The innovative essays in this volume demonstrat[e] the potential of the perspective of the affects in a wide range of fields and with a variety of methodological approaches Some of the essays use fieldwork to investigate the functions of affects—among organized sex workers, health care workers, and in the modeling industry Others employ the discourses of microbiology, thermodynamics, information sciences, and cinema studies to rethink the body and the affects in terms of technology Still others explore the affects of trauma in the context of immigration and war And throughout all the essays run serious theoretical reflections on the powers of the affects and the political possibilities they pose for research and practice”—Michael Hardt, from the foreword In the mid-1990s, scholars turned their attention toward the ways that ongoing political, economic, and cultural transformations were changing the realm of the social, specifically that aspect of it described by the notion of affect: pre-individual bodily forces, linked to autonomic responses, which augment or diminish a body’s capacity to act or engage with others This “affective turn” and the new configurations of bodies, technology, and matter that it reveals, is the subject of this collection of essays Scholars based in sociology, cultural studies, science studies, and women’s studies illuminate the movement in thought from a psychoanalytically informed criticism of subject identity, representation, and trauma to an engagement with information and affect; from a privileging of the organic body to an exploration of nonorganic life; and from the presumption of equilibrium-seeking closed systems to an engagement with the complexity of open systems under far-from-equilibrium conditions Taken together, these essays suggest that attending to the affective turn is necessary to theorizing the social Contributors Jamie “Skye” Bianco, Grace M Cho, Patricia Ticineto Clough, Melissa Ditmore, Ariel Ducey, Deborah Gambs, Karen Wendy Gilbert, Greg Goldberg, Jean Halley, Hosu Kim, David Staples, Craig Willse , Elizabeth Wissinger , Jonathan R Wynn

1,309 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An identity-based view is described to understand how the use of IT-based features in online communities is associated with online knowledge contribution, and it yields important implications for the design of the supporting IT infrastructure.
Abstract: A variety of information technology (IT) artifacts, such as those supporting reputation management and digital archives of past interactions, are commonly deployed to support online communities. Despite their ubiquity, theoretical and empirical research investigating the impact of such IT-based features on online community communication and interaction is limited. Drawing on the social psychology literature, we describe an identity-based view to understand how the use of IT-based features in online communities is associated with online knowledge contribution. Specifically, the use of four categories of IT artifacts---those supporting virtual co-presence, persistent labeling, self-presentation, and deep profiling---is proposed to enhance perceived identity verification, which thereafter promotes satisfaction and knowledge contribution. To test the theoretical model, we surveyed more than 650 members of two online communities. In addition to the positive effects of community IT artifacts on perceived identity verification, we also find that perceived identity verification is strongly linked to member satisfaction and knowledge contribution. This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanisms through which IT features facilitate computer-mediated knowledge sharing, and it yields important implications for the design of the supporting IT infrastructure.

1,131 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that consumers are more likely to diverge from majorities, or members of other social groups, in product domains that are seen as symbolic of identity (e.g., music or hairstyles, rather than backpacks or stereos).
Abstract: We propose that consumers often make choices that diverge from those of others to ensure that they effectively communicate desired identities. Consistent with this identity‐signaling perspective, four studies illustrate that consumers are more likely to diverge from majorities, or members of other social groups, in product domains that are seen as symbolic of identity (e.g., music or hairstyles, rather than backpacks or stereos). In identity domains, participants avoided options preferred by majorities and abandoned preferences shared with majorities. The social group associated with a product influenced choice more in identity domains and when a given product was framed as identity relevant. People diverge, in part, to avoid communicating undesired identities.

1,079 citations


Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, a constructionist approach is proposed for the construction of ethnic and racial identities, focusing on the nature of ethnicity and race bonds and the power of circumstances in the making of identities.
Abstract: About the Authors Foreword Preface to the 2nd Edition Preface 1 The Puzzles Of Ethnicity And Race An Unexpected Persistence and Power A Puzzling Diversity of Forms Ethnicity and Race as Sociological Topics An Outline of What Follows 2 Mapping the Terrain: Definitions The Definition of Ethnicity The Definition of Race Ethnicity and Race Nationalism and Belonging Conclusion 3 Fixed or Fluid? Alternative Views of Ethnicity and Race The Assimilationist Assumption Primordialism Circumstantialism Primordialism and Circumstantialism Compared Conclusion 4 A Constructionist Approach The Construction of Ethnic and Racial Identities The Nature of Ethnic and Racial Bonds The Reconstruction of Circumstances The Logic of Ethnic and Racial Construction Reframing Intergroup Relations Conclusion 5 Case Studies in Identity Construction Case 1 The Power of Circumstances: Blacks and Indians in the United States Case 2 Between Assertion and Assignment: Chinese Americans in Mississippi Case 3 From Thick Ethnicity to Thin: German Americans Case 4 Constructed Primordiality and Ethnic Power: Afrikaners in South Africa Case 5 From Thin Ethnicity to Thick: Basketball and War in the Former Yugoslavia Case 6 Race, Culture, and Belonging: Who Is France? A Comparison of Cases Conclusion Chapter 6 Construction Sites: Contextual Factors in the Making of Identities Critical Sites Politics Labor Markets Residential Space Social Institutions Culture Daily Experience Summarizing Contextual Factors Conclusion Chapter 7 What They Bring: Group Factors in the Making of Identities Preexisting Identities Population Size Internal Differentiation Social Capital Human Capital Symbolic Repertoires Groups, Contexts, and Agendas Conclusion Chapter 8 Making Sense and Making Selves in a Changing World The Impact of Modernity Mixing and Multiplicity Separation and Consolidation Making Sense, Making Selves, Making Others Conclusion References

897 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the meaning and significance of relational identity and relational identification, predicated on the role-relationship between two individuals and argued that relational identity integrates person-and role-based identities and thereby the individual, interpersonal, and collective levels of self.
Abstract: We explore the meaning and significance of relational identity and relational identification, predicated on the role-relationship between two individuals. We argue that relational identity integrates person- and role-based identities and thereby the individual, interpersonal, and collective levels of self; contrast relational identity and relational identification with social identity and social identification; contend that relational identity and relational identification are each arranged in a cognitive hierarchy ranging from generalized to particularized schemas; and contrast relational identification with relational disidentification and ambivalent relational identification.

868 citations


Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the history of the discipline and its history, and the dynamic interdependence among self-systems and social systems in the context of cultural psychology.
Abstract: Part 1 The Discipline and Its History HR Markus, MYG Hamedani, Sociocultural Psychology: The Dynamic Interdependence among Self Systems and Social Systems RA LeVine, Anthropological Foundations of Cultural Psychology HC Triandis, Culture and Psychology: A History of the Study of Their Relationship MJ Konner, Evolutionary Foundations of Cultural Psychology Part 2 Theory and Methods M Cole, G Hatano, Cultural-historical Activity Theory: Integrating Phylogeny, Cultural History, and Ontogenesis in Cultural Psychology S Kitayama, S Duffy, Y Uchida, Self as Cultural Mode of Being R Mendoza-Denton, W Mischel, Integrating System Approaches to Culture and Personality: The Cultural Cognitive-affective Processing System D Cohen, Methods in Cultural Psychology JY Chiao, N Ambady, Cultural Neuroscience: Parsing Universality and Diversity across Levels of Analysis D Oyserman, S Wing-Sing Lee, Priming "Culture": Culture as Situated Cognition Part 3 Identity and Social Relations AP Fiske, ST Fiske, Social Relationships in Our Species and Cultures MB Brewer, M Yuki, Culture and Social Identity Y Hong, C Wan, S No, C Chiu, Multicultural Identities J Sanchez-Burks, F Lee, Cultural Psychology of Workways C Schooler, Culture and Social Structure: The Relevance of Social Structure to Cultural Psychology Part 4 Acquisition and Change of Culture P Rozin, Food and Eating S Atran, Religion's Social and Cognitive Landscape: An Evolutionary Perspective L Newson, PJ Richerson, R Boyd, Cultural Evolution and the Shaping of Cultural Diversity JG Miller, Cultural Psychology of Moral Development GA Morelli, F Rothbaum, Situating the Child in Context: Attachment Relationships and Self-regulation in Different Cultures S Li, Biocultural Co-construction of Developmental Plasticity across the Lifespan Part 5 Cognition RJ Sternberg, Intelligence and Culture A Norenzayan, I Choi, K Peng, Perception and Cognition PJ Miller, H Fung, M Koven, Narrative Reverberations: How Participation in Narrative Practices Co-creates Persons and Cultures DL Medin, SJ Unsworth, L Hirschfeld, Culture, Categorization, and Reasoning Q Wang, M Ross, Culture and Memory C Chiu, A K-y Leung, L Kwan, Language, Cognition, and Culture: Beyond the Whorfian Hypothesis Part 6 Emotion and Motivation W Tov, E Diener, Culture and Subjective Well-Being SJ Heine, Culture and Motivation: What Motivates People to Act in the Ways That They Do? B Mesquita, J Leu, The Cultural Psychology of Emotion E Hatfield, RL Rapson, LD Martel, Passionate Love and Sexual Desire RW Levenson, J Soto, N Pole, Emotion, Biology, and Culture AJ Marsella, AM Yamada, Culture and Psychopathology: Foundations, Issues, and Directions Part 7 Commentaries from Two Perspectives RA Shweder, An Anthropological Perspective: The Revival of Cultural Psychology - Some Premonitions and Reflections RE Nisbett, A Psychological Perspective: Cultural Psychology - Past, Present, and Future Part 8 Epilogue D Cohen, S Kitayama, Cultural Psychology: This Stanza and the Next

822 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare place attachment to place identity in samples differentiated according to birthplace and length of residence, and the magnitude of these bonds to different places, finding that bonds are stronger with the city than with the neighbourhood, but that attachment and identity with the island are stronger than either of them.

733 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine two theories of group attachment and link these theories with design decisions for online communities and argue that the constraints and opportunities inherent in online community design influence how people become attached to the community and whether they are willing to expend effort on its behalf.
Abstract: Online communities depend upon the commitment and voluntary participation of their members. Community design — site navigation, community structure and features, and organizational policies — is critical in this regard. Community design affects how people can interact, the information they receive about one another and the community, and how they can participate in community activities. We argue that the constraints and opportunities inherent in online community design influence how people become attached to the community and whether they are willing to expend effort on its behalf. We examine two theories of group attachment and link these theories with design decisions for online communities. Common identity theory makes predictions about the causes and consequences of people's attachment to the group as a whole. Common bond theory makes predictions about the causes and consequences of people's attachment to individual group members. We review causes of common identity and common bond, and show how they ...

712 citations


Book
09 Aug 2007
TL;DR: Coupland as discussed by the authors developed a coherent theoretical approach to style in sociolinguistics, illustrated with copious examples, and explained how speakers project different social identities and create different social relationships through their style choices, and how speech style and social context inter-relate.
Abstract: Style refers to ways of speaking - how speakers use the resource of language variation to make meaning in social encounters. This 2007 book develops a coherent theoretical approach to style in sociolinguistics, illustrated with copious examples. It explains how speakers project different social identities and create different social relationships through their style choices, and how speech-style and social context inter-relate. Style therefore refers to the wide range of strategic actions and performances that speakers engage in, to construct themselves and their social lives. Coupland draws on and integrates a wide variety of contemporary sociolinguistic research as well as his own extensive research in this field. The emphasis is on how social meanings are made locally, in specific relationships, genres, groups and cultures, and on studying language variation as part of the analysis of spoken discourse.

Book
06 Mar 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, the state of play and future directions of early second language learning research are discussed in the context of identity in the social sciences and in the early second-language learning research.
Abstract: Introduction 1. Identity in the social sciences today 2. Waking the dead: Identity in early second language learning research 3. Identity in adult migrant contexts 4. Identity in foreign language contexts 5. Identity in study abroad contexts 6. Second language identities: the state of play and future directions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Signaling theory is presented as a conceptual framework with which to assess the transformative potential of SNSs and to guide their design to make them into more effective social tools.
Abstract: Social network sites SNSs provide a new way to organize and navigate an egocentric social network. Are they a fad, briefly popular but ultimately useless? Or are they the harbingers of a new and more powerful social world, where the ability to maintain an immense network-a social "supernet"-fundamentally changes the scale of human society? This article presents signaling theory as a conceptual framework with which to assess the transformative potential of SNSs and to guide their design to make them into more effective social tools. It shows how the costs associated with adding friends and evaluating profiles affect the reliability of users' self-presentation; examines strategies such as information fashion and risk-taking; and shows how these costs and strategies affect how the publicly-displayed social network aids the establishment of trust, identity, and cooperation-the essential foundations for an expanded social world.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper reviewed key issues of public understanding of science research over the last quarter of a century and showed how the discussion has moved in relation to large-scale surveys of public perceptions by tracing developments through three paradigms: science literacy, public understanding, and science and society.
Abstract: This paper reviews key issues of public understanding of science (PUS) research over the last quarter of a century. We show how the discussion has moved in relation to large-scale surveys of public perceptions by tracing developments through three paradigms: science literacy, public understanding of science and science and society. Naming matters here like elsewhere as a marker of "tribal identity." Each paradigm frames the problem differently, poses characteristic questions, offers preferred solutions, and displays a rhetoric of "progress" over the previous one. We argue that the polemic over the "deficit concept" voiced a valid critique of a common sense concept among experts, but confused the issue with methodological protocol. PUS research has been hampered by this "essentialist" association between the survey research protocol and the public deficit model. We argue that this fallacious link should be severed to liberate and to expand the research agenda in four directions: contextualizing survey research, searching for cultural indicators, integrating datasets and doing longitudinal analysis, and including other data streams. Under different presumptions, assumed and granted, we anticipate a fertile period for survey research on public understanding of science. © SAGE Publications.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors developed and evaluated a new measure of national attachment that is grounded in social identity theory, drawing on data from three distinct sources: two studies of undergraduate students and the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS).
Abstract: Researchers disagree over the definition, measurement, and expected political consequences of American patriotism, a situation that is fueled by the absence of a strong theoretical research foundation. We develop and evaluate a new measure of national attachment that is grounded in social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner 1979), drawing on data from three distinct sources: two studies of undergraduate students and the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS). Confirmatory factor analyses provide clear evidence that national identity is distinc tf ro mo ther measures of national attachment including symbolic, constructive, and uncritical patriotism (and nationalism). National identity has a number of other good measurement properties when compared to existing measures: it receives equal endorsement from conservatives and liberals (unlike most other measures which exhibit an ideological bias), develops with time spent in the United States among immigrants, and most importantly is the only measure of national attachment to predict political interest and voter turnout in both student and adult samples, consistent with the predictions of social identity theory. In that sense, the national identity measure outperforms all other measures of national attachment and provides unambiguous evidence that a strong American identity promotes civic involvement.

Posted Content
TL;DR: The white male effect as discussed by the authors suggests that individuals selectively credit and dismiss asserted dangers in a manner supportive of their preferred form of social organization, which reflects the risk skepticism that hierarchical and individualistic white males display when activities integral to their cultural identities are challenged as harmful.
Abstract: Why do white men fear various risks less than women and minorities? Known as the white male effect, this pattern is well documented but poorly understood. This paper proposes a new explanation: identity-protective cognition. Putting work on the cultural theory of risk together with work on motivated cognition in social psychology suggests that individuals selectively credit and dismiss asserted dangers in a manner supportive of their preferred form of social organization. This dynamic, it is hypothesized, drives the white male effect, which reflects the risk skepticism that hierarchical and individualistic white males display when activities integral to their cultural identities are challenged as harmful. The article presents the results of an 1,800-person study that confirmed that cultural worldviews interact with the impact of gender and race on risk perception in patterns that suggest cultural-identity-protective cognition. It also discusses the implication of these findings for risk regulation and communication.

Book
26 Dec 2007
TL;DR: Stephanie Lawler as mentioned in this paper examines a range of important debates about identity and argues that identity is produced and embedded in social relationships and worked out in the practice of peoples everyday lives.
Abstract: Questions about who we are, who we can be, and who is like and unlike us underpin a vast range of contemporary social issues. What makes our families so important to us? Why do we attach such significance to being ourselves? Why do so many television programmes promise to revolutionise our lives? Who are we really? In this highly readable new book, Steph Lawler examines a range of important debates about identity. Taking a sociological perspective, she shows how identity is produced and embedded in social relationships, and worked out in the practice of peoples everyday lives. She challenges the perception of identity as belonging within the person, arguing instead that it is produced and negotiated between persons. Chapter-by-chapter her book carefully explores topics such as the relationships between lives and life-stories, the continuing significance of kinship in the face of social change, and how taste works to define identity. For Lawler, without understanding identity, we can't adequately begin to understand the social world. This book will be essential reading on upper-level courses across the social sciences that focus on the compelling issues surrounding identity.

Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present Imagining Transgender, an ethnography of the emergence and institutionalization of transgender as a category of collective identity and political activism and how social theory is implicated in it.
Abstract: Imagining Transgender is an ethnography of the emergence and institutionalization of transgender as a category of collective identity and political activism. Embraced by activists in the early 1990s to advocate for gender-variant people, the category quickly gained momentum in public health, social service, scholarly, and legislative contexts. Working as a safer-sex activist in Manhattan during the late 1990s, David Valentine conducted ethnographic research among mostly male-to-female transgender-identified people at drag balls, support groups, cross-dresser organizations, clinics, bars, and clubs. However, he found that many of those labeled “transgender” by activists did not know the term or resisted its use. Instead, they self-identified as “gay,” a category of sexual rather than gendered identity and one rejected in turn by the activists who claimed these subjects as transgender. Valentine analyzes the reasons for and potential consequences of this difference, and how social theory is implicated in it. Valentine argues that “transgender” has been adopted so rapidly in the contemporary United States because it clarifies a model of gender and sexuality that has been gaining traction within feminism, psychiatry, and mainstream gay and lesbian politics since the 1970s: a paradigm in which gender and sexuality are distinct arenas of human experience. This distinction and the identity categories based on it erase the experiences of some gender-variant people—particularly poor persons of color—who conceive of gender and sexuality in other terms. While recognizing the important advances transgender has facilitated, Valentine argues that a broad vision of social justice must include, simultaneously, an attentiveness to the politics of language and a recognition of how social theoretical models and broader political economies are embedded in the day-to-day politics of identity.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article reconceptualized Jones and McEwen's model of multiple dimensions of identity by incorporating meaning making, based on the results of Abes and Jones's (2004) study of lesbian college students.
Abstract: We reconceptualize Jones and McEwen's (2000) model of multiple dimensions of identity by incorporating meaning making, based on the results of Abes and Jones's (2004) study of lesbian college students. Narratives of three students who utilize different orders of Kegan's (1994) meaning making (formulaic, transitional, and foundational, as described by Baxter Magolda, 2001) illustrate how meaning-making capacity interacts with the influences of context on the perceptions and salience of students' multiple social identities. Implications for theory, research, and professional practice are discussed.

MonographDOI
01 Mar 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, Minding the gap: Race, Ethnicity, achievement and cultural meanings, beyond belief: Acculturation, Accommodation and Non-compliance, and the conflicts of schooling.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Minding the Gap: Race, Ethnicity, Achievement and Cultural Meanings 1 Beyond Belief: Acculturation, Accommodation and Non-compliance 2 "Black" Cultural Capital and the Conflicts of Schooling 3 Between a "Soft" and a "Hard" Place: Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture in the School and at Home 4 Next Door Neighbors: The Intersections of Gender & Pan-Minority Identity 5 New "Heads" and Multicultural Navigators: Race, Ethnicity, Poverty & Social Capital 6 School Success Has No Color Appendix

Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, small stories of a group of female adolescents that were studied ethnographically in a town in Greece were used to provide fresh answers and perspectives on some of the perennial questions of narrative analysis.
Abstract: Narrative research is frequently described as a diverse enterprise, yet the kinds of narrative data that it bases itself on present a striking consensus: they tend to be autobiographical and elicited in interviews. This book sets out to carve out a space alongside this narrative canon for stories that have not made it to the mainstream of narrative and identity analysis, yet they abound as well as being crucial sites of subjectivity in everyday interactional contexts. By labelling those stories as ‘small’, the book emphasizes their distinctiveness, both interactionally and as an antidote to the tradition of ‘grand’ narratives research. Drawing primarily on the audio-recorded small stories of a group of female adolescents that was studied ethnographically in a town in Greece, the book follows a language-focused and practice-based approach in order to provide fresh answers and perspectives on some of the perennial questions of narrative analysis: How can we (re)conceptualize the mainstay concepts of tellership, structure and evaluation in small stories? How do the participants’ telling identities connect with their larger social identities? Finally, what does the project of storying self (and other) mean in small stories and how can it be best explored?

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a social behaviorist approach to the concept of agency and suggest that individual temporal orientations are underutilized in conceptualizing this core sociological concept.
Abstract: The term “agency” is quite slippery and is used differently depending on the epistemological roots and goals of scholars who employ it. Distressingly, the sociological literature on the concept rarely addresses relevant social psychological research. We take a social behaviorist approach to agency by suggesting that individual temporal orientations are underutilized in conceptualizing this core sociological concept. Different temporal foci—the actor's engaged response to situational circumstances—implicate different forms of agency. This article offers a theoretical model involving four analytical types of agency (“existential,” “identity,” “pragmatic,” and “life course”) that are often conflated across treatments of the topic. Each mode of agency overlaps with established social psychological literatures, most notably about the self, enabling scholars to anchor overly abstract treatments of agency within established research literatures.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors provides an overview of previous work that has explored issues of social, organizational and corporate identity, and calls for greater cross-fertilization of the three identity literatures and discusses requirements for the integration of micro- and macro-level analyses.
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of previous work that has explored issues of social, organizational and corporate identity. Differences in the form and focus of research into these three topics are noted. Social identity work generally examines issues of cognitive process and structure; organizational identity research tends to address the patterning of shared meanings; studies of corporate identity tend to focus on products that communicate a specific image. Nonetheless, across these areas there is general consensus that collective identities are (a) made viable by their positivity and distinctiveness, (b) fluid, (c) a basis for shared perceptions and action, (d) strategically created and managed, (e) qualitatively different from individual identities and (f) the basis for material outcomes and products. This paper calls for greater cross-fertilization of the three identity literatures and discusses requirements for the integration of micro- and macro-level analyses.

Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: Gauntlett et al. as discussed by the authors explored the ways in which researchers can embrace people's everyday creativity in order to understand social experience by asking individuals to make visual representations of their own identities, influences, and relationships.
Abstract: How do you picture identity? What happens when you ask individuals to make visual representations of their own identities, influences, and relationships? Drawing upon an array of disciplines from neuroscience to philosophy, and art to social theory, David Gauntlett explores the ways in which researchers can embrace people's everyday creativity in order to understand social experience. Seeking an alternative to traditional interviews and focus groups, he outlines studies in which people have been asked to make visual things - such as video, collage, and drawing - and then interpret them. This leads to an innovative project in which Gauntlett asked people to build metaphorical models of their identities in Lego. This creative reflective method provides insights into how individuals present themselves, understand their own life story, and connect with the social world. Creative Explorations is a lively, readable and original discussion of identities, media influences, and creativity, which will be of interest to both students and academics. Shortlisted for the 2007 Times Higher award, 'Young Academic Author of the Year'.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the antecedents of company identity attractiveness in a consumer-company context were investigated and the results demonstrate that the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contribution to company IA is much stronger than that of Corporate Ability (CA).
Abstract: The extent to which people identify with an organization is dependent on the attractiveness of the organizational identity, which helps individuals satisfy one or more important self-definitional needs. However, little is known about the antecedents of company identity attractiveness (IA) in a consumer–company context. Drawing on theories of social identity and organizational identification, a model of the antecedents of IA is developed and tested. The findings provide empirical validation of the relationship between IA and corporate associations perceived by consumers. Our results demonstrate that the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contribution to company IA is much stronger than that of Corporate Ability (CA). This may be linked to increasing competition and of decreasing CA-based variation in the marketplace.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the instrumental-symbolic framework to study factors relating to both employer image and organizational identity of the Belgian Army and found that both instrumental and symbolic perceived image dimensions predict applicants' attraction to the Army.
Abstract: This study aims to bridge two research streams that have evolved relatively apart from each other, namely the research streams on organizational identity and on employer branding (employer image). In particular, we posit that it is crucial to examine which factors company outsiders (applicants) as well as company insiders (employees) associate with a given employer. To this end, this study uses the instrumental–symbolic framework to study factors relating to both employer image and organizational identity of the Belgian Army. Two samples are used: a sample of 258 Army applicants and a sample of 179 military employees. Results show that both instrumental and symbolic perceived image dimensions predict applicants’ attraction to the Army. Conversely, symbolic perceived identity dimensions best predict employees’ identification with the Army. Results further show that employees also attach importance to outsiders’ assessment of the organization (construed external image). Theoretical and practical implications for managing organizational identity and image are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Seven studies show the effect of identity-based motivation on health, the process by which content of social identities influences beliefs about in-group goals and strategies in racial-ethnic minority participants.
Abstract: People do not always take action to promote health, engaging instead in unhealthy habits and reporting fatalism about health. One important mechanism underlying these patterns involves identity-based motivation (D. Oyserman, 2007), the process by which content of social identities influences beliefs about in-group goals and strategies. Seven studies show the effect of identity-based motivation on health. Racial-ethnic minority participants view health promotion behaviors as White middle class and unhealthy behaviors as in-group defining (Studies 1 and 2). Priming race-ethnicity (and low socioeconomic status) increases health fatalism and reduces access to health knowledge (Studies 3 and 4). Perceived efficacy of health-promoting activities is undermined when racial-ethnic minority participants who identify unhealthy behavior as in-group defining are asked to consider their similarities to (middle-class) Whites (Studies 5-7).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored the insights that theories of identity can offer for the conceptualisation and analysis of face and argued that linguists will benefit from taking a multidisciplinary approach, and that by drawing on theory and research in other disciplines, especially in social psychology, they will gain a clearer and deeper understanding of face.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The experience of uncertainty motivates individuals and groups to find l... as discussed by the authors The authors of as discussed by the authors describe the increasing impact of globalization on self and identity and at the same time a growing uncertainty.
Abstract: Our era is witnessing an increasing impact of globalization on self and identity and at the same time a growing uncertainty. The experience of uncertainty motivates individuals and groups to find l...