The Nature of the Ballet and Hip-Hop Dancer Identity

This study examines how the environment and the socialization that ensues shape individuals’ attitudes and meanings in the situation of being a dancer. In turn, these attitudes and meanings in the situation may influence the “tightness” of the dancer identity, or how hard people seek to match situational meanings, including how they think other people see them, with how they see themselves as a dancer. Data were collected through field observations and semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that how the environment is structured and the socialization that accompanies it may influence dancer identity meanings that are more tightly controlled for a ballet dancer compared to meanings that are more loosely controlled for a hip-hop dancer.

Controlled, Verified, and Understood

Organizations, like individuals, are faced with the task of constructing an identity. To attract investors and consumers, a firm needs to develop a sense of “who we are” and “what we do.” Yet audiences may come to see the firm differently from how it desires to be seen. We address this alignment problem with a case study of the U.S. market for higher education. Identity verification is core to the research on individuals but peripheral in the literature on organizational identity, which instead focuses more on strategic identity construction. We use a network approach to capture both how schools view themselves (e.g., Yale nominates Princeton as a peer) and how the market responds (e.g., many schools view Yale and Princeton as peers). Results show that prestigious schools are more likely to (1) construct tightly controlled identities, (2) experience reciprocated nominations, and (3) define themselves in a manner consistent with the market’s response.

Identity Meanings and Categorical Inequality

I use affect control theory (ACT) to show how we apply cultural knowledge to classify and form impressions of the people we encounter, producing inequality as widely shared cultural beliefs are translated into predictable patterns of social action. I apply ACT measurement dimensions (evaluation, potency, and activity) to show that cultural beliefs about social groups, known as “social identity meanings,” convey groups’ relative positions within systems of inequality such as race/ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexuality, religion, and social class. I find that privileged groups (e.g., whites, the rich, heterosexuals, Americans, and Christians) are higher in power (potency) but lower in status (evaluation) than other groups across dimensions of inequality. This meaning profile is shared by roles, traits, and behaviors that signify authority across diverse social domains. I consider the implications of these findings and of ACT more broadly for understanding how inequalities reflected in cultural meanings are often reproduced through interactions.

Racial Exclusion and Queer Identity

In lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social movement communities, members with varied sexual and gender identities work to pursue shared goals. While gender and sexual marginalization serve as common rallying points for members, intersectionality theory recognizes that each person has multiple, intersecting identities, which influence their experiences of oppression and empowerment (Crenshaw 1989). As a result, it is important to understand how LGBTQ activists navigate multiple identities and investments, while still maintaining group solidarity. Using 53 interviews with non-heterosexuals, I examine how multiple sexual, gender, and racial identities were subsumed within a broader "queer community" group engaged in identity-verification among their peers. Based on the findings, I suggest that inclusive ideologies, when deployed in diverse social movement communities, can reproduce inequalities from within. Furthermore, I argue that these inequalities are made visible through the processes by which members of social groups engage in struggles to verify group membership.

Perceived Similarity in Identity Meanings, Identity Verification, and Positive Emotions

Past research suggests that perceived similarity promotes good feelings and positive relationships between partners (Byrne, 1971). Current research in identity theory offers a theoretical framework for understanding part of this process. According to identity theory, when people experience identity verification, they feel good, which can generate social bonds. In this study, we examine the role of perceived similarity in identity meanings, and how this may be associated with identity verification, and in turn, positive feelings. Using survey data examining the student identity among a sample of college students, we find that students who perceive similarities between their own views of themselves as students and their close friends’ views of themselves as students are more likely to experience positive emotions. This effect is partially mediated by heightened identity verification. The theoretical implications for incorporating the concept of perceived similarity into identity theory are discussed, along with the applications of these findings to at-risk college students who are most vulnerable to dropping out.

Identity and the Self in Elderly Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the gradual loss of memory, ultimately progressing to forgetting who one is and has been. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, the progression of this disease raises the question of what happens to the “self” as part of an interactive social process with others. Our exploratory study of elders with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s indicates that, while identities grounded in memories and roles will fade as a person loses their ability to remember people and events, habitual and behavioral aspects of identity that reflect one’s personhood may persist longer. Thirty-two elders in Canada and the United States, plus 20 of their caregivers, participated in a qualitative interview. Results indicated that even people with very impaired memory still reacted to situations in ways congruent with their past identities, although they often did not remember the identities themselves. Viewing this phenomenon sociologically informs our understanding of the formation and disintegration of self.

Identity Formation in Street Demonstrations

Every day, somewhere in the world, citizens take to the streets to vent their anger about grievances they share. A central mechanism in our understanding of protest behavior is identity formation. To experience shared grievances and emotions, a shared identity must develop. We address the question with whom protesters identify. Rather than examine whether dynamics of identification determine mobilization and participation, we will assess whether dynamics of mobilization and participation foster identification. We distinguish deductive and inductive identity formation. Taking the deductive route, people deduce a shared identity from a higher-order category membership they share; for example, being a union member. Taking the inductive route, a collective identity emerges as group members interact. Hypotheses derived from this conceptualization are tested. We present data on identification from a study of 81 demonstrations and 16,597 participants in eight European countries. We find that inductive and deductive identity formation have different antecedents.

Racial Identity and Racial Attitudes Among White Americans

This chapter explores how five dimensions of white racial identity are associated with one another and with white Americans’ racial attitudes. Drawing on data from the 2014 General Social Survey Identity Module, we first examine the relationships among five aspects of whites’ racial identities: prominence, salience, private self-regard, public self-regard, and verification. We then examine the implications of these aspects of racial identity for whites’ reported and preferred distance from, stereotypes about, and support for policies designed to benefit black Americans. In so doing, we contribute to the long-standing identity theory project of demonstrating how identities shape other elements of social life, including the construction and maintenance of social inequalities. We also contribute to the growing research literature on “whiteness” and its implications for intergroup relations in the United States.

Gender Identity Among U.S. Adults

This chapter investigates how gender identity as a social identity fits into people’s lives and how social factors influence it, by drawing on identity theory and social identity theory. Empirical research on this question is surprisingly limited, despite widespread interest in gender identity in the social sciences and humanities. Using data from the 2014 Identity Module in the U.S. General Social Survey, we examine four dimensions of gender identity: importance, salience, pride, and verification. All four dimensions feature prominently in men’s and women’s lives. Gender identity is stronger for parents than for non-parents. In contrast, marriage/cohabitation and employment status are mostly unrelated to gender identity. Gender identity tends to be stronger among women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the less educated. We conclude that gender identity is an omnipresent reality in most people’s lives and that it contributes to maintaining gender as a set of categories that organize social relations.

Authenticity and the Religious Identity

This chapter reports the findings of a study comparing the association of religious behavior with two identity-related concepts, testing their potential as a source of survey response bias in the self-reported measure of religious attendance. Religious identity prominence is defined as the value one places on one’s religious identity. Respondents with prominent religious identities interpret the religious attendance question in a way that allows them to report on their self-view as religious people rather than on their religious behavior. Religious authenticity is defined as the desire to be and be seen as who one “really is.” Respondents are motivated to demonstrate their authentic religious selves by reporting that they are the “kind of person” who attends. Results suggest that religious identity prominence, but not religious authenticity, positively influences reports of religious attendance. These findings shed light on the potential sources of error in survey measures of religious attendance and ways we might avoid them in the future.