Social Identity and Intergroup Relations Within the Hospital

Abstract

City hospitals are complex organizations made up ofthousands ofemployees with a variety ofethnic and racial backgrounds, and representing diverse occupational roles. These various groups often have differing religious and philosophical belief systems, which creates a complex combination of people similar to a small urban city. This paper investigated this multicultural society within the hospital and looked specifically at how various occupational groups define themselves in terms of their social identity. In addition, the paper also explored how various occupational groups related with one another. This study explored specifically the intergroup relations ofthe psychiatric staffand their supporting personnel. These groups were understood within the theoreticalframework of Tajfel’s social identity theory (1978,1982), and Allport’s (1954) intergroup contact theory, as well as Sherif (1961) and Turner's (1975) concept ofthe in group/out group process.