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Identity has remained a popular concept for many decades, being widely used in scientific research. This reflects not only the importance of the phenomena standing behind this notion, but also wide and deep changes accompanying the transition of societies from industrial to post-industrial, late modern, post-modern, network or information society. Regardless of the disputes about the nature of the new era, researchers agree that identities, including collective identities, play a key role in it, and the fight for the recognition of individual and social actors is an extremely important element of contemporary social processes and relations. The article presents a brief description of the most important points in the debate on identity, concerning its meaning, the subjects of identity, the dimensions of identity and the forms of its manifestations in social reality.

Extant literature highlights how socially constructed target populations shape the distribution of benefits and burdens, focusing on political elites. In this article, we examined how linked fate, intersectionality and identity complexity shape the impacts of socially constructed target populations on public support for affirmative action in the US. In our nationally representative survey experiment, we randomly assigned respondents to evaluate either a socioeconomic or race-based affirmative action policy and tested the influence of linked fate and partisanship on policy support. First, we found support for our linked fate hypothesis – low-income and non-White respondents were more likely to support socioeconomic or race-based affirmative action, respectively. We also found that the intersectionality of identities – sex, income and race – predicted support for race-based and socioeconomic-based affirmative action. Second, we found that partisanship moderated the effect of linked fate. When interacted with Republican Party identification, the effect of linked fate on support for affirmative action among low-income and racially minoritised respondents disappeared. These findings demonstrate the importance of integrating social identity theory and intersectionality in policy design theory. In this way the article makes a clear contribution to the scholarship on policy design studies.

This article unravels the manipulation of language and nonlinguistic communication strategies in political and sports discourses to negotiate various identities in Kenya. Kenya is multilingual with over 42 stable and unstable languages whose users are, historically, "forced" into one country. Through a historical sociolinguistic approach, the article analyses code choice, stereotypes, jokes and nicknames for ethnic and other identity negotiation. It shows that negative ethnicity based on "we" versus "they" dichotomies enhances ethnic cleavages but Sheng pervades ethnic boundaries and politicians use it to endear and identify themselves with the youth. The present article calls for responsible language use.

Current research into organizational age discrimination has placed a focus on the consequences of ageism and economic pressures of an ageing workforce, rather than endeavouring to understand the social processes that create and reproduce ageist ideologies within an organizational context. This article departs from mainstream approaches within age and employment studies in order to explore older worker identity as a discursive phenomenon. Analysis shows how the social construction of the `older worker' may in itself serve to marginalize and contribute towards age inequalities through three discursive strategies: contextualizing the problem, essentializing older worker characteristics and ventriloquizing the older worker. The conclusions seek to situate these findings within larger political and practitioner debates concerning the older worker agenda and how distancing the older worker from chronological or biological determinism may serve to further our understanding of organizational age inequality as a social process.

The literature pointing out that ethnic groups are a social construction has a particular salience in discussion of identity in both East and Central Africa. As numerous authors have noted, there are in fact few linguistic, phenotypical, or social differences between Hutu and Tutsi. Indeed, as all acknowledge, there has been substantial intermarriage, particularly in Rwanda. Nevertheless, as recent events in Rwanda and Burundi illustrate, the presumably 'socially constructed' differences between Hutu and Tutsi have become a legitimated reason for murdering one's neighbours. But although cited as the cause of the civil war by virtually every Rwandan, as well as the Western and Tanzanian press, I am also impressed by the fact that at different times and places being 'Tutsi' means very different things. My own observations in the Benaco refugee camp for 'Hutu' illustrate how quickly and drastically such seemingly 'fixed' identities can change.

This dissertation analyses texts produced on and around three Israeli national holidays as sites at which national identity is (re)produced. I deploy a poststructural discourse analysis to examine how the representations of Israeli national identity on these holidays organize the construction of Israeli national identity between 2003 and 2013. I develop my arguments through analysis of a large dataset consisting of 1,316 pieces of evidence, made up of statements delivered by political elites as well as articles printed by the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz newspapers on or around the national holidays. I begin with a review of the contributions of poststructural International Relations scholarship and then outline my own contributions to this literature. I then develop my theoretical framework and outline my methods of data collection and management as well as data analysis. Before proceeding to the analysis of Israeli national identity, I review four other cases (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) that share similar national holidays to Israel. Such analysis emphasizes the significance of national holidays to understanding identity in global politics. I identify three major identity themes, and a corollary group of counter-themes, which emerge through the body of texts. The first theme I engage with asks how certain physical practices are enacted on national holidays and how these form part of Israeli national identity. I then pay particular attention to the practices of Holocaust memorialisation as a central organising principle of national identity. I proceed to examine how ideas of territory and nation are each produced throughout the national holidays to construct national identity. The final analytical chapter examines the discontinuities and ruptures of the three previous analytical chapters. I explore how resistances, concealments and counter-discourses are always present in identity discourses. I conclude with an appraisal of the key contributions that this work makes to disciplinary knowledge and how it can enhance the ways that poststructural IR scholars understand the role of national holidays in the construction of national identity.

AbstractIn this article, we discuss the theoretical implications of empirical elaborations of Bernstein's (1997) model of identity deployment. New research encompasses a diverse array of venues and targets and elaborates on the mechanisms through which identities may be deployed strategically. Application of the identity deployment model spans a variety of so‐called 'identity movements' as well as ethnic, nationalist and indigenous movements, and community mobilization. Identity deployment is also a useful strategy in organizational and professional contexts, as in the micro‐brewery movement or culinary movements, demonstrating the theoretical generalizability of the original model. New research closely examines the relationship between identity and strategy and the conditions that affect activists' choice of identity strategies as well as the situations where they might avoid identity strategies altogether. Research finds that identities may be deployed performatively, rhetorically or discursively. Identity deployment may be facilitated by emotional displays, music and ritual. The way that power and authority are organized in a given venue determines in part the capacity of activists and organizations to alternate between celebrating and suppressing difference from the majority. Identity deployment influences internal and external outcomes, affecting mobilization and goal achievement. Finally, feedback loops link the different analytic dimensions of identity.

An analysis of the development of Australian national identity in the context of European history & Asian geography illustrates the roles identity can play in a complex regional setting, especially in relation to constructions of security. Conventional security studies are said to be shaped by notions of elite security & privilege that squelch other imaginings of community. It is contended that community is a site of political contestation & a result of power struggles. The "realist-speak" of conventional international relations & security studies has neglected issues of identity & culture surrounding colonization, anticolonialism, & postcoloniality. "Realist speak" deploys but almost never interrogates racialized international identities that are critical to understanding national identity, security, & danger. The evolution of Australia's relations with Asia is traced to point out that immigration into Australia has become re-racialized & foreign policy remilitarized, particularly in the context of the US-led war on terror. The potential for a vigorous politics of identity to move toward more inclusive & emancipatory accounts of security is discussed. J. Lindroth

Objective. Given that the group aspect of party identification forms a central, yet largely unexplored element of American partisanship, social identity theory presents a compelling social-psychological theory of group belonging through which to reinterpret the contemporary understanding of partisanship. Methods. Using a mail survey of 302 randomly selected Franklin County, OH, residents, levels of social identification with the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, & political independents are measured using the Identification with a Psychological Group (IDPG) scale. Scores on the IDPG are used to predict attitudes toward parties & the consistency of partisan behavior. Results. Levels of partisan social identity proved to be significant predictors of political party ratings, ideology, & party activities, even when taking traditional measures of partisan strength into account. Conclusions. Social identity is a fundamental aspect of partisanship, which, when measured, can lead to superior prediction & understanding of related political attitudes & behaviors. 4 Tables, 34 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article's main theme is national identity & its questionable role in establishing identity of a European political community. It is argued that political integration within the European Union requires a normative & conceptual reexamination of the concept of national identity. 'Europeanization' in the context of this article suggests the integration of national groups within & between the states of the Union is a project rooted in the political future. Consequently, national identity, inspired historically, may have reached a stage whereby its utility has expired. Adapted from the source document.

[Abstract] My proposal for our panel concerns a particular kind of political practices, namely public demonstration and procession developed, in different ways, in each Yugoslavian republic during the 80s and the 90s. This point of view, apart from permitting an interesting deepening in semiotic studies of these topics, could at least answer to the question: is a demonstration in itself a source of identity? In example, the difference between the style and the course of demonstrations in Serbia (the famous Miloševic's mitintsi), in Slovenia or in other countries, could be interpreted as the manifestation of a different trajectory of identification for these national identities? This perspective could develop a significant insight in the processes of identitybuilding in a situation of crisis, and in its relation with the construction of new political practices. This research will be performed by instruments provided by latest sociosemiotic and cultural studies, aware that a tight dialogue between different disciplines is the key for a better understanding of these events