Suchergebnisse

What makes us divide the world into 'us' and 'them'? How can we exert social influence over others? When does a peaceful protest turn into a riot? Why are some politicians heroes one day and villains the next? Where do we find the resources to resist authoritarian regimes?Taking these questions as a starting point, the book examines political conduct from a social identity perspective. Supported by over two decades of empirical research, this perspective distinguishes between our personal identity, which is prevalent when we think of ourselves as individuals, and our social id.

Interest in the concept of identity has grown exponentially within both the humanities & social sciences, but the discussion of identity has had less impact than might be expected on the quantitative study of political behavior in general & on political psychology more specifically. One of the approaches that holds the most promise for political psychologists is social identity theory, as reflected in the thinking of Henry Tajfel, John Turner, & colleagues. Although the theory addresses the kinds of problems of interest to political psychologists, it has had limited impact on political psychology because of social identity theorists' disinclination to examine the sources of social identity in a real world complicated by history & culture. In this review, four key issues are examined that hinder the successful application of social identity theory to political phenomena. These key issues are the existence of identity choice, the subjective meaning of identities, gradations in identity strength, & the considerable stability of many social & political identities. 125 References. Adapted from the source document.

1. Introduction -- 2. The social identity tradition and its critics -- 3. The category, not the self -- 4. What ever happened to "'hot' aspects of the group"? -- 5. Another story of the minimal group paradigm -- 6. Social change or socio-symbolic symptom? -- 7. Gringo : a case study -- 8. Conclusions.

Social identities based on class, religion, and region underpin political cleavages in Spain. This article examines the salience of divisions based on these identities and estimates changes in the conflict-potential of the cleavages over time. The political consequences as well as the origins of the dimensions of conflict are analyzed. While some of the social identities remain fairly strong—religion, for example, more evidently than class—the direct effects of the cleavages on both within-and extra-system politics at the mass level appear to have weakened. Data are drawn from the third in a series of national surveys conducted in 1978, 1980, and 1984.

This article develops a critique of the 'economistic' approach to understanding social bias in parliamentary representation. It asks why it is so difficult to reduce social bias and achieve change towards a more demographically representative parliament. It argues that what is needed to understand political representation and social identity is a theory that does not polarise subjectivity and social structure in the way the economistic approach polarises 'supply' and 'demand'. The article proposes that paired concepts of 'habitus' and 'field' provide tools that enable an understanding of the relationship between the 'general social field', structured as it is by divisions of social class, sex/gender and 'race'/ethnicity, and the 'habitus' and 'strategies' of actors competing to enter one of the major fields of power, in this case, the field of politics, recognising that these two levels are mediated in their interconnections by the specific form taken by the British political system. The research is based on extended autobiographical interviews with male and female members of the British parliament. The article focuses on class, the 'difference' that has been sidelined in feminist debates on the politics of difference, and also on sex/gender in the form of masculine identity. The article suggests that remedies are needed at each of the three levels of field, system and habitus if parliamentary politics is to be opened up to a wider demographic base, and in so doing, to move towards political justice.

Zwischen dem 5. und 1. Jhdt. v. Chr. betrachteten politische Theoretiker in China und Europa Musik als nützlichen Maßstab für den politischen Charakter und Zustand von Gesellschaften und ihren Machthabern. Auch wenn ihre Ansichten keiner wissenschaftlichen Basis entsprangen, können schriftliche Überlieferungen und archäologische Quellen heute herangezogen werden, um Musik und damit zusammenhängende kulturelle Äußerungen im Umfeld der Macht und ihren unmittelbaren Einflussbereichen zu verorten. Sie können so über Identität, Selbstverständnis, Ansehen und Status informieren: vom Haushalt über den Staat, bei Eroberungen und Machtausübung, im Fall von Widerständen und Rebellionen sowie in der Rechtsprechung, Diplomatie und Schlichtung. Allem Anschein nach können diese Quellen in der Tat etwas Neues über Machtbeziehungen, Ideologie und politischen Wandel in der antiken Welt vermitteln. Sie dienen zudem als indirekter Indikator für politische agency in schriftlosem Umfeld.

Drawing on the work of the Survey Research Center of the U of Michigan on party identification (A. Campbell, G. Gurin, & W. Mitter, THE VOTER DECIDES, Evanston, Ill: Row, Peterson, 1954, & A. Campbell, P. Converse, W. Miller, & D. Stokes, THE AMERICAN VOTER, New York, NY: Wiley, 1964) & the Likert approach to attitude measurement, a procedure is developed for measuring the concept of social identity among a number of individuals with a single instrument. Results of the Twenty Statements Test research were used to compile a wide-ranging sample of 40 stimulus groups (H. Mulford & W. Salisbury, II, "Self-conceptions in a General Population," in SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONS; A READER IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, J. G. Manis & B. N. Meltzer, Eds, Boston, Mass: Allyn & Bacon, 1967). A sample group of 146 Uc & graduate students at Temple U, Philadelphia were given the questionnaire during a class period. The sexual, racial, & religious make-up of the sample was calculated. Pearson product-moment correlations were measured from the raw data matrix. To extimate the N of meaningful factors present, the Cattell eigen value technique was used. The r matrix was factored & refactored with an iteractive principal axis routine to determine the 7 factors: 'Jewish' identity, 'black M' identity, 'sex' identity, 'respectable member of the community' identity, 'upper status' identity, 'blue-collar Roman Catholic' identity, & 'white race' identity. All proved reliable under Cronbach's alpha test for measurement equivalence, except the 'blue-collar Roman Catholic' identity. Applications of the instrument to the study of policy compliance & group support are suggested. 3 Tables. Modified HA.

IN THIS STUDY A PARTISAN SOCIAL IDENTITY SCALE WAS USED TO REINTERPRET PERCEPTUAL FEATURES OF PARTISANSHIP THROUGH THE LENS OF SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY. THE SOCIAL IDENTITY OF POLITICAL INDEPENDENTS WAS ALSO EXAMINED IN AN EFFORT TO EXPLAIN THE ANOMALOUS BEHAVIOR AND IDENTITY OF PARTISAN LEANERS. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY PROVIDED A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING THE COMMON POLARITY OF PERCEPTIONS REGARDING THE TWO MAJOR U.S. POLITICAL PARTIES. IN ADDITION, AN INDEPENDENT SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION MAY, IN PART, EXPLAIN THE IDENTITY OF PARTISAN LEANERS.