The Role of Social Identity Complexity in Intergroup Relations

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea van van Dommelen ◽  
Katharina Schmid ◽  
Miles Hewstone
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
Social Identity Complexity

scholarly journals Stimulating interethnic contact in Kosovo: The role of social identity complexity and distinctiveness threat

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1039-1058
Author(s):  
Edona Maloku ◽  
Belle Derks ◽  
Colette van Laar ◽  
Naomi Ellemers
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
Social Identity Complexity ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
The Relationship

The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by now. However, the potential of contact for intergroup relations is only available when there is readiness to have contact with outgroup members to begin with. In two correlational studies with the main ethnic groups in postconflict Kosovo, Albanian majority (Study 1, N = 221) and Serb minority (Study 2, N = 110), we examine how social identity complexity mechanism and distinctiveness threat contribute to predicting more readiness to have contact with outgroup members. As the establishment of a new national identity unfolds, we show that while there are different processes that work for each of the groups, distinctiveness threat is a central concern to both as it mediates the relationship between identity and intergroup outcomes. For the Albanian majority group, having more complex identities (or perceiving less identity overlap between national and ethnic identity) predicts more readiness to have contact and feeling more positively towards members of the outgroup via reduced distinctiveness threat. For the Serb minority, however, threat is predicted only by strength of ethnic identification, which in turn predicts negative feelings towards members of the ethnic outgroup and less readiness to contact them. We conclude by comparing results for the majority and the minority groups and discuss strategies needed to reduce threat and improve intergroup relations in this segregated context struggling for reconciliation.

scholarly journals Inclusive and exclusive beneficiary attributions: The role of social identity complexity in interpretations of and punishment for dissent

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110194
Author(s):  
Sonia Roccas ◽  
Adi Amit ◽  
Shani Oppenheim-Weller ◽  
Osnat Hazan ◽  
Lilach Sagiv
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
Social Identity Complexity

We suggest that intentionality attributed to dissenting behavior in intergroup contexts (e.g., exposing one’s country’s secrets) may be conceptualized as benefitting one of four social circles. Two social circles exclude the perceiver: (a) the actor him/herself and (b) the outgroup affected by the behavior; and two circles include the perceiver: (c) the ingroup of both the perceiver and the actor and (d) humanity as the ultimate collective including both ingroup and outgroup. We further suggest that adopting different beneficiary attributions depends on the perceivers’ social identity complexity (Roccas & Brewer, 2002), which refers to an individual’s representation of their multiple social identities on a continuum from highly overlapping to highly differentiated (i.e., simple vs. complex social identity). Perceivers are more likely to attribute dissent behavior to social circles that exclude (rather than include) themselves the simpler their social identity; such exclusive attributions lead to harsher moral judgements, expressed as punitiveness.

scholarly journals A social identity complexity theory reading of Philemon

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Kok ◽  
Ilse Swart
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
Social Identity Complexity

This article provides new perspectives on navigating complex social identity in the letter to Philemon by means of the heuristic use of social identity complexity theory (SICT) in combination with socio-rhetorical analysis (SRA). The application of SICT as a heuristic tool in New Testament (NT) studies is relatively new, but it is positioned within the novel research being carried out on social identity theory in the NT.Contribution: This article wants to make a new contribution by illustrating how SICT can help us to think in more nuanced ways about nested identity(s) in Philemon.

United We Stand

2020 ◽  
pp. 174-208
Author(s):  
Dominic D. P. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Balkan Wars

This chapter examines the strategic advantages of the in-group/out-group bias. It discusses people that have a powerful tendency to favor their own in-group and its members, while disparaging out-groups and their members. It also clarifies the strength and prevalence of the in-group/out-group bias that forms a bedrock foundation in social psychology and is critical to social identity and intergroup relations. The chapter investigates how group prejudices can have appalling human consequences in the bias's contribution to the oppression of minority groups, ethnic conflict, and genocide. It highlights the implication of the role of the in-group/out-group bias in fanning the flames of the Balkan wars, the Rwandan genocide, and the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

scholarly journals Social Identity Complexity Theory as heuristic tool in New Testament Studies

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Kok
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
New Testament Studies ◽  
Social Identity Complexity

In this article the author gives an overview of a relatively new theory in social psychology, namely Social Identity Complexity Theory, and illustrates the heuristic value of the theory for New Testament interpretation. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is taken as a case study to illustrate how the theory could shed new light on the Galatian conflict and on Paul’s social identity complexity, which might have made him a good facilitator of change and reconciliation.

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