Collective Identity Research Articles

A social identity approach to crisis leadership.

This paper discusses the importance of a social identity approach to crisis leadership in the context of global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and emphasizes the interconnected relationships between leaders and followers. I highlight the role of leaders in fostering unity and shaping citizens' responses especially during crises. I discuss the nature of crises and the significant role of political leaders in guiding societal responses and suggest that crisis leadership extends beyond individual competencies and behaviours and involves a shift from individual to collective responses. With this, I introduce the social identity approach to leadership that views leadership as a social influence process and emphasizes the importance of creating a sense of 'we-ness' among followers. Following from that, crisis leadership involves leaders constructing defining features of collective identity and efficacy to address crises appropriately. However, the value of this approach depends on the careful definition of shared identity boundaries, consideration of diverse experiences within society, the evolving nature of crisis leadership over time and potential consequences of crisis leadership. The sustainability of identity leadership, the dynamics of intergroup and subgroup processes, and the complexities of various crises are identified as areas requiring further research.

The Power of Monuments. From Social Unrest to Urban Violence (2020–2023) | O Poder dos Monumentos: Da Agitação Social à Violência Urbana (2020–2023)

This paper examines the complexities of heritage, memory, and monumentality in public spaces, highlighting the dynamic interplay of top-down and bottom-up processes, competing narratives, and the shaping of collective identity. It argues that excluding communities from shaping commemorative landscapes often leads to conflict, with monuments becoming contentious and vandalized. Conversely, unilateral decisions by political elites can deepen social divides. The paper concludes by stressing the need for collaborative, participatory approaches to creating inclusive and democratic public memory.

Religious Unification, Regional Divergence: Exploring Multifaceted Linguistic Practices and Identities among the Israeli Druze and the Druze Community in the Golan Heights

This study delves into a comparative analysis of language and identity within two distinct Druze communities: those residing in the Golan Heights, who transitioned from Syrian to Israeli governance post the 1967 War, and their counterparts within Israel proper. Both communities find themselves situated as 'sandwiched' communities, with the Golan Druze caught between Israeli and Syrian nationalisms and the Israeli Druze positioned amid the dynamics of Israel and the Arabs. Given the fluid nature of collective identities, which are subject to continuous shaping by sociopolitical influences within and beyond state boundaries, this study focuses on two pivotal political debates in each community during the fieldwork period. The Israeli Druze community is primarily concerned with the Israeli-Nation State law controversy. Meanwhile, the Golan Heights Druze community is grappling with the intensifying and widely publicized speculation regarding secret negotiations between Assad's regime and Israel, which suggests that the Golan was sold to Israel rather than being a result of a 'lost war.' This study explores how these debates gradually shape the collective identities of the respective communities. The research illuminates how navigating between opposing forces leads to the emergence of novel national identities and linguistic variations within these 'sandwiched' contexts.

Visual affordances and social interactions at Early Iron Age Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʽAliya, Jordan

Social archaeology of the early Iron Age southern Levant has tended to work from the top-down, using abstract models of social organization, collective identity and subsistence economies to interpret archaeological remains. In this paper a bottom-up approach that uses the visual affordances of the built environment of Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʽAliya, an Iron Age IB site on Jordan’s eastern Karak Plateau is proposed. Four different methods of visibility analysis are proposed, including a bespoke hybrid approach developed by one of the authors (Wilson). Analyses suggests that the two largest houses at Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʽAliya were exempt from the dense inter-visible monitoring afforded by the built environment of the site. Combined with other archaeological evidence, the analysis supports the inference that these two houses were occupied by households whose status differed from their fellow residents by degree, if not kind. It is argued that extending this sort of micro-political analysis to other sites would allow for the construction of more nuanced, bottom-up, narratives of social change in the early Iron Age southern Levant firmly grounded in the archaeological record.

#SpendYourSummerInGeorgia: popular geopolitics, grassroots activism and tourism marketing against Russia

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates the broad-spanning ramifications of tourism marketing in geopolitics and proposes viewing civilian-led social media destination branding campaigns as novel yet important forms of popular geopolitics. The case is the #SpendYourSummerInGeorgia campaign created by Georgian grassroots activists in 2019 following a politicized travel blockade issued by the Kremlin preventing Russians from entering Georgia. #SpendYourSummerInGeorgia was designed to counter the blockade, soliciting an alternative, pro-Western and European tourism audience. It enabled citizens to engage in their country’s foreign relations – a space historically reserved for political elites – yet one now accessed through tourism marketing. This campaign also shaped representations of Georgian collective identity, including those linked to Europe and the Soviet Union, thus ordering social, cultural and political values in the country. Contributing to literature across popular geopolitics, tourism geographies and nation branding, this article uses content analysis and semi-structured interviews to show how tourism was not only impacted by geopolitics but also became its very medium. As popular tourism marketing enters the messy world of geopolitics, this case demonstrates how the stakes for cultivating a strategically favourable collective identity are high, calling for those studying popular geopolitics to have their radar attuned to tourism.

Frontiers of fortune: mobilising land, water, and collective identity for watermelon production in Southeastern Morocco

ABSTRACT Watermelon production has rapidly increased in Morocco over the last 15 years. Since its independence in 1956, Morocco has promoted the production of early-season fruits and vegetables for European supermarkets to boost the national economy and improve rural livelihoods. Today, the expansion of watermelon production in arid regions of the country has had profound impacts on local land and water resources. In Zagora, a pre-Sahara oasis region in the southeast of the country, watermelons have contributed to the overuse of aquifers, trapping farmers in cycles of accumulating debt, and increasing conflict over land. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with residents and officials from 2021-2023, this paper demonstrates how a pastoral community embraced watermelon production in an effort to engage with the agro-export sector that drives the country's agricultural growth. Yet rather than contributing to the overall development of the region, watermelon production has deepened gender and economic disparities within the community and privileged a small group of farmers with access to capital. Although authorities restricted watermelon production in 2023, larger investors simply moved production, leaving small farmers to confront the volatile market while trying to sustain land, water, and collective identity in the region.

The Amhara of Ethiopia: Embracing and Using Imposed Identity to Resist Injustice

Ethnic identities often solidify in response to perceived or actual injustices endured by groups. Historically, Amharic-speaking people in Ethiopia have resisted ethnic identification, aligning instead with broader Ethiopian nationalism. However, the rise of extreme ethnonationalist forces in the country has subjected the group to negative narratives, violence, and marginalisation, associating them with past state domination. In response, the Amhara have increasingly embraced ethnic identity as a form of self-defence. This study employs thematic analysis to explore the experiences of the Amhara people and the subsequent emergence of their collective identity, including the rise of resistance movements. Despite this new alignment, Amhara elites and activists paradoxically maintain a strong commitment to Ethiopian unity, reflecting a complex duality in their socio-political stance. This balancing act illustrates their struggle to survive while remaining loyal to national unity. The article argues that sustained violence and marginalisation have catalysed the rise of Amhara group consciousness, transforming Ethiopia’s political landscape. This study offers broader insights into how group mentality can emerge as a response to systematic and sustained injustice and the implications this has for redefining power politics in Ethiopia and beyond, providing insights for policymaking and future research.

CLASS AT THE CROSSROADS: Reframing Disadvantage in Organizing Daily Wage Work in Western India

AbstractAcross Indian cities, daily wagers gather every morning at large intersections or crossroads (nakas) where they seek work for the day from small construction contractors. In the satellite city of Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai), some of these daily wagers are reconstituting themselves into a class of ‘disadvantaged, crossroad workers’. This article provides an ethnographic narration of how class is experienced, constituted and asserted at a street crossroad. Through the space of the naka, daily wagers combine their different experiences of caste, religious and regional disadvantage into a collective identity of crossroad workers. As a collective, they seek and gain recognition as workers by the state, even if their everyday terms of work continue to be largely unprotected by law. While such reframing of disadvantage has long been part of social movements in western India, their contemporary politics is conditioned by workers’ alienation from new town‐making projects, where they are seen as temporary labor migrants and must contend with landed, socio‐politically dominant groups vying for control over the city. This article contributes to growing scholarship on the resocialization of labour movements, as both work and class organizing change dramatically, particularly in contentious urban spaces like Navi Mumbai.

The Spread of Montessori Education in Mainland China

This paper is a historical account of the spread of Montessori education in mainland China. It surveys the general picture of early childhood education (ECE) in China and discusses the factors leading to the popularity of Montessori education in the 1990s. Although first introduced into China in the early 1900s, for reasons explained, Montessori education was unsuccessful in catching on as an education method in the early part of the 20th century. Following policy changes and growing interest in western education methods, Montessori education reemerged in the 1990s and has remained a sought-out education method since. In this paper, localization is also discussed as a prominent concern expressed in the Chinese research is ensuring Montessori education promotes and instills values consistent with Chinese society. As is shown, elements of the Montessori method are consistent with Chinese culture, creating a cooperative relationship between these two systems. Of equal importance, Montessori education emphasizes the cultivation of collective identity and societal relationships similar to Chinese culture, the slight difference between them being that Montessori also emphasized the construction of the individual as well.

Making sense of a pandemic: reasoning about COVID-19 in the intellectual dark web.

In this study, I examine how users of an online Reddit community, r/IntellectualDarkWeb, forged an anti-establishment collective identity through practices of "heterodox scientific" reasoning. I do so through a discursive analysis of comments and posts made to r/IntellectualDarkWeb during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, I deploy the BERTopic algorithm to cluster my corpus and surface topics pertaining to COVID-19. Second, I engage in a qualitative content analysis of the relevant clusters to understand how discourses about COVID-19 were mobilized by subreddit users. I show that discussions about COVID-19 were polarized along "contrarian" and "anti-contrarian" lines, with significant implications for the subreddit's process of collective identity. Overwhelmingly, contrarian content that expressed skepticism towards vaccines, mistrust towards experts, and cynicism about the medical establishment was affirmed by r/IntellectualDarkWeb users. By contrast, anti-contrarian content that sought to counter anti-vaccine rhetoric, defend expertise, or criticize subreddit users for their contrarianism was penalized. A key factor in this dynamic was Reddit's scoring mechanism, which empowered users to publicly upvote contrarian affirming content while simultaneously downvoting anti-contrarian content. As users participated in sense making about COVID-19, they deployed Reddit's scoring mechanism to reinforce a contrarian collective identity oriented around a practice of heterodox science. My research shows the continued relevance of the concept of collective identity in the digital age and its utility for understanding contemporary reactionary social movements.

Contesting “Moderate Islam”: Religious Legitimacy in Post–Civil War Algeria

Globalized security discourses over the last 20+ years have made “moderating” Islam into a hegemonic sociopolitical imperative across the so-called Muslim world, even while “moderate Islam” is largely bereft of an agreed-upon or specifiable meaning. This study analyzes the multitude of frames through which “moderation” (al-i‘tidal or al-wasatiyya) is deployed by Algeria’s Muslim Brotherhood–inspired Movement of the Society of Peace (MSP). I argue that the MSP deploys the discourse of “moderate Islam” in its official platforms, public image, and articulations of personal and collective identity among its membership base in order to situate the movement against global stigmas and within the political-cultural contours of post–civil war Algeria.

Факторы социальной жизнестойкости арктических сельских сообществ в современной России (на материалах прибрежных и островных территорий Архангельской области)

The article focuses on the problem of factors ensuring social resilience of Arctic rural communities. Using the materials of island and coastal territories of the Primorskiy district of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, the author studies how the features of social organization and life activities of specific communities ensure their reproduction as local social systems, help them to remain resilient to external challenges of economic, environmental and other types, and allow them to adapt to the changes in the region. In order to solve these problems, the author took part in a field study on the territory of 14 rural settlements in three rural municipalities in the period from July to early September 2022. The main method of obtaining empirical data is in-depth interview. The analysis of the interviews made it possible to identify a set of key factors of resilience of the rural communities under consideration. The first factor is the ability of local residents to reorient to subsistence farming and traditional crafts in the conditions of degradation of those sectors of the local economy that imply permanent formal labor employment. The second factor is the high level of social capital of communities, which determines the normalization of mutual assistance practices. The third factor is the involvement of a part of the local population in grassroots activities: social and cultural initiatives of local residents make it possible to attract external resources to solve the problems of territorial development, as well as support the collective identity of rural community members and increase its cohesion. The fourth factor is the return of retired local natives who previously migrated from rural to urban areas.

Unveiling South American collective identities in Brazil: insights into regional integration and identity formation

ABSTRACT This study investigates the construction of South American collective identities in Brazil, emphasizing regional integration and identity formation. Using a seven-scale model adapted from European identity research, it evaluates the psychological existence and identification with South America as a transnational imagined community among Brazilians. The findings highlight the complex interplay between national and regional identities, influenced by historical, cultural, and socio-political factors. The study contributes to the field of Comparative Regionalism by providing a nuanced understanding of identity dynamics in South America, underscoring the importance of elite-led integration efforts and their impact on citizens’ perceptions.

COLLECTIVE MEMORY: KAZAKH EXODUS FROM ALTAY MOUNTAINS

This paper examines the collective memory and identity processes of Kazakhs in Istanbul, Turkey, who settled there in the early 1950s. Now numbering around 20,000, these Kazakhs fled their homeland in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region after failed uprisings against the Chinese government in the 1930s and 1940s. After a period in India, they were accepted into Turkey as migrants with Turkish ancestry. The study focuses on the Kazakh exodus during the 1930s and 1940s, emphasizing how this history shapes their present identity. The trauma of this migration remains deeply embedded in their collective memory, influencing not only their identity and political views but also decisions in areas such as voting, political alliances, and even naming their children. The paper mainly draws on the findings from the author’s PhD dissertation, which was defended in 2020.

Conducting research within the acronym: Problematizing LGBTIQ+ research in psychology

ABSTRACTLGBTIQ+ research acknowledges shared experiences of groups marginalized due to gender identities, sexualities, and sex characteristics. This universalist coalition approach has resulted in much affirmational research and progressive policy development. However, it risks homogenizing the unique experiences and needs of specific groups; a risk lessened by a particularist subgroup approach. In this theoretical paper, we reflect on the challenges of a coalition or subgroup approach by considering interdependencies and boundaries between sex, gender, and sexuality‐based identities. Through tracing the historical development of LGBTIQ+ research and activism and using examples from intersex studies, intersectionality, and political actions, we explore tensions between the collective identities that make up the LGBTIQ+ acronym. We further offer suggestions for reimagining LGBTIQ+ research, advocating for community‐driven approaches that respect the situated knowledge of LGBTIQ+ individuals, and use adaptable and inclusive research practices that bridge academia and activism that aim to improve the lives of the marginalized.

What Role Does the Heritage Language Play in Chinese Communities in UK?

This article examines the pivotal role of heritage language on Chinese diaspora communities in the UK, emphasizing its role in cultural transmission and identity formation. It emphasizes how community schools serve as essential platforms for heritage language education, enabling immigrant families to preserve their linguistic and cultural connections. The interplay between language learning and the socio-cultural environment is explored, revealing the challenges faced by learners and the significance of family education in this progress. Mastery of heritage language is shown to foster a sense of belonging and cultural pride, contributing to the construction of identities in a multicultural society. The article further discusses how heritage language education not only imparts linguistic skills but also installs cultural values and beliefs, reinforcing national identity among diaspora members. Ultimately, it underscores the transformative impact of heritage language on individual and collective identities, facilitating a deeper understanding of cultural nuances and promoting intercultural awareness within the diverse landscape of contemporary Britain.

The Cognitive Mechanisms of Residents under the Background of the Renewal of Suburban Historical and Cultural Villages

This study aims to investigate the cognitive mechanisms of rural residents amidst the renewal of suburban historical and cultural villages by examining the interplay between nostalgia, collective memory, subjective well-being, and place identity in rural tourism destinations. Using Naobao Village as a case study—a suburban historical and cultural village in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia—this research employs a comprehensive approach integrating experimental methods and questionnaire surveys. The findings demonstrate that analyzing the interaction among the four emotions can elucidate the cognitive mechanism of residents. Moreover, it uncovers that positive tourism effects significantly influence residents’ perception of their living environment with positive effects on collective memory, subjective well-being, and place identity. In the theoretical model for generating cognition among residents in suburban historical and cultural villages, subjective well-being and collective memory play crucial mediating roles. This study offers a novel perspective for spatial reconstruction and cultural evolution of tourist landscapes in suburban rural tourist destinations.

How can community music shape individual and collective well-being? A case study of a place-based initiative.

There is an urgent need to investigate innovative and creative approaches in health promotion that support work towards health equity. In response, this study explores the potential for arts, and community music specifically, to strengthen individual and collective well-being. This study used a qualitative case study methodology that involved interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation with participants (N = 13), facilitator (N = 1) and support staff (N = 2) of an established community music initiative conducted in an urban community. Data collection was conducted across 2023 and data analysis drew on a socioecological framework to explore potential individual and collective outcomes from the perspective of those involved in the initiative. Findings point to outcomes across socioecological levels with researchers identifying positive health and well-being implications for participants including joy, healing and a sense of purpose, creative self-expression, confidence, social connection and contribution. Positive outcomes for the wider community were also identified including developing community ties, promoting safety and shaping and sharing of collective identity. Findings suggest community-led opportunities for engagement can support healing and empowerment for people who are marginalised, and this can enable active community participation related to challenging the status quo and developing a shared set of values. Potential implications of these outcomes in relation to broader societal transformations are discussed. This study highlights how community music, and the arts more broadly are working in communities in ways that support potential personal, community and societal transformations towards health equity. SO WHAT?: By developing coalitions and collaborating with diverse sectors, including the arts and social sectors, health promotion practitioners and researchers can harness the creative strengths and resources that exist within a community to support positive individual and collective well-being.

Barbarians and identity in early China: Constructing the Huaxia through the other

ABSTRACT Through an investigation of representations of the Other and ancient Chinese collective identity in classical Chinese texts, this paper offers a new perspective to modern discourse surrounding the ‘distinctions between barbarians and Chinese’ (yixia zhi bian 夷夏之辨). Providing a historical analysis of terms and tropes related to the in-group Huaxia and out-group rongdi (barbarian Other) from the Shang to the Han dynasties, it is argued that increasingly abstracted representations of the Other functioned in promoting identification and solidarity with an increasingly unified Huaxia. Rather than reading depictions of the rongdi as merely a reflection of how the ancient Chinese perceived the out-group, terms that function as the ‘generalized barbarian’ are interpreted as recursive reflections of how the Huaxia in-group understood the Huaxia themselves, offering a glimpse into what was implicitly regarded as characteristic, distinctive, or even sacred to Huaxia collective identity.

Place identity: a generative AI’s perspective

Do cities have a collective identity? The latest advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) models have enabled the creation of realistic representations learned from vast amounts of data. In this study, we test the potential of generative AI as the source of textual and visual information in capturing the place identity of cities assessed by filtered descriptions and images. We asked questions on the place identity of 64 global cities to two generative AI models, ChatGPT and DALL·E2. Furthermore, given the ethical concerns surrounding the trustworthiness of generative AI, we examined whether the results were consistent with real urban settings. In particular, we measured similarity between text and image outputs with Wikipedia data and images searched from Google, respectively, and compared across cases to identify how unique the generated outputs were for each city. Our results indicate that generative models have the potential to capture the salient characteristics of cities that make them distinguishable. This study is among the first attempts to explore the capabilities of generative AI in simulating the built environment in regard to place-specific meanings. It contributes to urban design and geography literature by fostering research opportunities with generative AI and discussing potential limitations for future studies.