The Effects of Status-Organizing and Social Identity Processes on Patterns of Social Influence

Abstract

Two theories of social influence, status characteristics theory (SCT) and social identity theory (SIT), have achieved an uncommon degree of theoretical cumulation. SCT focuses on the influence of status-differentiated actors in goal-oriented settings, while SIT addresses the influence of in-group versus out-group members in intergroup contexts. We explore the joint effect of status and social identity. Using a modification of SCT's standardized experimental setting, we found that status-organizing and social identity processes operated concurrently: group membership combined with a diffuse status characteristic in a manner consistent with the aggregation assumption of SCT The study has implications for the theoretical integration of SCT with SIT The avenue we suggest would describe how status-organizing and social identity processes are interrelated through their interactive effect on the legitimation of informal power and prestige orders.