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Social Identity explains how identification, seen as a social process, works: individually, interactionally and institutionally. Building on the international success of previous editions, this fourth edition offers a concise, comprehensive and readable critical introduction to social science theories of identity for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates. All the chapters have been updated, and extra new material has been added where relevant, integrating the most recent critical publications in the field. As with the earlier editions, the emphasis is on sociology, anthropology and social p.

1. Identity matters -- 2. Similarity and difference -- 3. A sign of the times? -- 4. Understanding identification -- 5. Selfhood and mind -- 6. Embodied selves -- 7. Entering the human world -- 8. Self-image and public image -- 9. Groups and categories -- 10. Beyond boundaries -- 11. Symbolising belonging -- 12. Uncertaintly and predictability -- 13. Institutionalising identification -- 14. Organising identification -- 15. Categorisation and consequences -- 16. Identity and modernity revisited.

The problem of collective identity can be delineated through a brief historical account of the evolution of societies. There are 4 stages of social evolution which trace the relation of ego & group identity: (1) the archaic stage with its kinship ties & mythical world images, (2) the stage of the city-state with centralization, the formation of self-identity, & the rise of community, making group identity possible, (3) the rise of a class society with an emphasis on the community of believers, & (4) the modern era with the demand for strong universalistic commitments & individualistic ego structures. According to Hegel, the last stage reflects the alienation of the subject from society & from nature. This separation of the 'I' from society signifies the modern problem of identity, which can only be solved if it is rendered incomprehensible. For Hegel it is the modern state which embodies rational identity, but there are 4 arguments against this thesis: (A) the bourgeois state is not 'real', (B) for Hegel, rational identity develops in a sovereign state, but the sovereignty of the modern state has become an anachronism-- society is global in nature operating within the worldwide network of communications, (C) it is questionable whether a society can formulate its identity when social integration gets substituted for systems integration, & (D) the historical development of the state in the 19th century reveals that the identity of a society no longer fits an organizational framework, be it a nation or a parastate party. Some aspects of a new identity which is possible in a complex society can only be grounded in a consciousness of universal & equal chance to participate in the kinds of communication processes by which identity formation becomes a continuous learning process. There must be counterarguments & revisions of values & norms; tradition must be appropriated critically. A. Karmen.

"Recent experimental results indicate that women do not like competitive environments as much as men do. Another literature is interested in the effect of social identity on economic behaviors. This paper investigates in the lab the impact of social identity on men and women's willingness to compete both individually and as part of a team. To this aim, participants from the Identity sessions had to go through group identity building activities in the lab while participants from the Benchmark sessions did not. The main result is that men are only willing to enter a team competition with a teammate of unknown ability if they share a common group identity with him or her. This change of behavior seems to be caused by high-performing men who are less reluctant to be matched with a possibly less able participant when he or she belongs to his group. On the other hand, group identity does not seem to induce women to take actions more in the interest of the group they belong to." (author's abstract)

This broad, panoramic view of Russian imperial society from the era of Peter the Great to the Revolution in 1917 sets forth a challenging interpretation of one of the world's most powerful and enduring monarchies. Beginning with an overview of imperial Russia's legal and institutional structures, Wirtschafter analyzes the "ruling" classes and service elites (the landowning nobility, the civil and military servicemen, the clergy) and then moves on to examine the middle groups (the raznochintsy, the commercial-industrial elites, the professionals, the intelligentsia) before turning to the peasants, townspeople, and factory workers. Wirtschafter argues provocatively that those very social, political, and legal relationships that have long been viewed as sources of conflict and crisis in fact helped to promote integration and to foster the stability that ensured Imperial Russia's survival. Social Identity in Imperial Russia will thus appeal to a wide range of readers interested in Russian history and culture, state building, and European social history

Throughout Western society there are now strong pressures for social and racial integration but, in spite of these, recent experience has shown that greater intergroup contact can actually reinforce social distinctions and ethnic stereotypes. The studies collected here examine, from a broad sociological perspective, the sorts of face-to-face verbal exchange that are characteristic of industrial societies, and the volume as a whole pointedly demonstrates the role played by communicative phenomena in establishing and reinforcing social identity. The method of analysis that has been adopted enables the authors to reveal and examine a centrally important but hitherto little discussed conversational mechanism: the subconscious processes of inference that result from situational factors, social presuppositions and discourse conventions. The theory of conversation and the method of analysis that inform the author's approach are discussed in the first two chapters, and the case studies themselves examine interviews, counselling sessions and similar formal exchanges involving contacts between a wide range of different speakers: South Asians, West Indians and native English speakers in Britain; English natives and Chinese in South-East Asia; Afro-Americans, Asians and native English speakers in the United States; and English and French speakers in Canada. The volume will be of importance to linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, and others with a professional interest in communication, and its findings will have far-reaching applications in industrial and community relations and in educational practice.

Social identities prescribe behaviors for people. We identify the marginal behavioral effect of these norms on discount rates and risk aversion by measuring how laboratory subjects' choices change when an aspect of social identity is made salient. When we make ethnic identity salient to Asian-American subjects, they make more patient choices. When we make racial identity salient to black subjects, non-immigrant blacks (but not immigrant blacks) make more patient choices. Making gender identity salient has no effect on intertemporal or risk choices. (JEL D81, J15, J16, Z13)