Social identity theory explains how people develop a sense of belonging to groups and how intergroup discrimination works. Categorization, personal identification, and comparison are key mechanisms. People can belong to multiple groups, and comparison creates favorable distinctions to boost self-worth.
Social identity theory is a theory designed to explain how people develop a sense of belonging and belonging to particular groups and how the mechanisms of intergroup discrimination work. This theory plays an important role in the study of social psychology. Everyone from sports fans to elite college students is influenced to some extent by social identity, and this theory explains how competition and discrimination between groups can become so fierce that it drives people to extreme acts such as murder or the promotion of laws to marginalize members of other groups, such as the Jim Crow laws in the American South.
Several interrelated mechanisms are at work with social identity theory. The central idea is that people tend to seek group membership as an affirmation of self-worth, but that group membership alone is not sufficient to construct a self-worth affirmation. To feel better, though, people have to believe they’re in the right group, which creates a need for a positive distinction from other groups.
One of the concepts behind this theory is categorization, the idea that all humans categorize each other, sometimes unconsciously, creating a set of natural groups. Describing someone as a woman, a businessman, a wheelchair user, and so on creates a variety of categorizations. These categories play into personal identity and the perception of the identities of others. Personal identification with a specific group and the development of an ingroup mindset is also involved.
An interesting thing to note is that people can belong to multiple groups, and the most dominant part of their identity can change, depending on which group they associate with. For example, a gay man who belongs to a professional organization of surgeons may feel that the gay part of his identity is dominant when he is among other gay men, confirming his ingroup identity, and that the surgeon aspect of his identity is dominant. when he is among other surgeons or in the hospital.
Comparison is also a fundamental part of social identity theory. Once people have ranked themselves and others, they can start comparing. People generally want to create favorable comparisons that make their own groups appear superior. This plays into psychological particularity, the desire to be unique within a group identity and to be viewed positively in relation to others. The gay surgeon, for example, may derive self-worth from knowledge when, when he is compared to a surgical nurse, he may be considered superior because of his more advanced job title.
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