Social Identity Theory

Abstract

The self-concept provides people with a fundamental frame of reference for navigating their social world. People understand and interpret social interactions using knowledge of their personal self (e.g., How do I as an individual usually respond in this or a similar situation?), their relational self, in which the focus of interaction is their role defined by attachment bonds with specific significant other people, and their collective self in which interactions are fully defined by their membership in a distinct social group or category. Social context is the determinant of which level of self is the dominating feature driving interaction and relevant contextual knowledge of the self. The social identity perspective focuses on the part of the self-concept that people derive from their important group memberships—their social identities—and how group memberships can become a compass for an individual’s interactions within specific groups and how self and social categorization processes set the normative boundaries for intergroup relationships.