Structuring multi-dimensional collective identity in clusters

Abstract

The paper explores the discursive formation of supra-organizational collective identities. Adopting a field-level approach, we expound how the meaning-making activity on collective identities is embedded in a broader discourse and is in turn articulated on a number of different dimensions. Additionally, we analyze how different field actors have a specific role in structuring each of these dimensions. Empirically, the paper is built upon textual data regarding the Brazilian wine-making cluster of the “Serra Gaúcha” region that offers a convenient setting to explore the formation of a collective identity, which is there perceived as a hot issue at stake by different field actors. Our main contribution is that the collective identity of fields and industries can emerge as the result of a distributed discourse, and not just as an interplay between identity promoters (internal field actors) and identity validators (external audiences). In this more complex discursive interplay between multiple actors, professional associations may assume a pivotal role thanks to their interest in boundary demarcation that results in efforts to formalize the collective identity.