Group Consciousness Research Articles

Ethnoracial Hierarchies and Democratic Commitments

Entrenched ethnoracial hierarchies that persist alongside formal democratic rules threaten commitments to democracy. Previous research has shown how marginalization and oppression harm minoritized group members, but has rarely considered the potential harm entrenched group-based hierarchies pose for democratic society overall. This paper offers two innovations. First, we argue that ethnoracial hierarchies have society-wide implications. Entrenched systems of ethnoracial marginalization undermine support for democracy and respect for democratic rights, even among members of privileged groups. Second, group consciousness conditions the effects of ethnoracial hierarchy among minoritized group members. Specifically, when minoritized individuals hold a structural dimension of group consciousness, they tend to sustain commitments to democracy. Insights from interviews with Indigenous and Afrodescendant activists and policy makers conducted during field research in Peru facilitate development of these theoretical expectations. Subsequent analysis of survey data cross-nationally throughout Latin America and over time in Bolivia demonstrates that ethnoracial hierarchies are associated with weaker democratic commitments across society, while reducing these hierarchies strengthens support for democracy. Among minoritized group members, however, structural group consciousness helps to mitigate these negative effects. This paper contributes a theoretical framework and empirical evidence concerning the challenges ethnoracial hierarchies pose for democratic commitments not only among those who belong to minoritized groups, but for people across society.

Linguistic technologies of informational and psychological influence on mass consciousness (based on the speeches of political leaders)

Mass psychology is examined based on the works of such theorists as Gustave Le Bon, Sigmund Freud, and Edward Bernays, to highlight the linguistic aspect of informational and psychological influence on collective consciousness.The nature of the herd instinct in humans has been investigated and it has been revealed how propaganda aimed at basic human instincts which William McDougall wrote about, can cause emotional reactions and shape public opinion. It was found that the language of the mass media is a separate sub-style of the journalistic style, with characteristic stylistic features that also belong to this style. The vocabulary of the journalistic style contains elements of scientific, official business and artistic speech, including colloquial and slang vocabulary, which often has an emotional and expressive color. Various stylistic techniques such as metaphors, humor and other tropes are actively used in such speech. As part of the study of the Effects-Based Operations (EBO) concept, the importance of manipulating consciousness to achieve desired results is emphasized. Modern informational influence in the Internet space is part of broader informational and psychological operations (PSYOP), where web formats play an important role in influencing the consciousness of target groups, changing their psychological instructions and stimulating certain actions. Recruitment, the process of attracting individuals to cooperate through shared interests or rewards, aims to use the resources or information of allies. A significant role in this process is played by targeting, which allows you to identify the target audience and deliver the appropriate advertising message to them. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which uses language and behavioral influence techniques, is also an important tool for influencing consciousness. These include reframing, pseudoselection, truisms, repetition, ordering, and command words. The use of such lexical means aims to subjugate the masses to propaganda purposes.

Empowering Collective Intentionality: A Framework for Social Change Through Group Consciousness

Communities face increasingly complex social and technological challenges, and traditional approaches to problem-solving often fall short. We can unlock innovative solutions that transcend individual limitations by tapping into the collective consciousness. The representatives of societies must understand the dynamics of social value creation to initiate social change mechanisms. The framework presented in this article combines insights to guide the process of cultivating group consciousness. It is developed on the foundations of Freudian consciousness and Jung’s idea of collective unconscious and unfolds the formation of group values in respective stages of interactive, collective, and transcendent consciousness.

The Effect of 8-Week Soccer Training on Group Dynamics and Group Consciousness of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

This study examines the effect of 8-week soccer training on group dynamics and group consciousness of individuals with educable intellectual disabilities. In this study, a one-group pretest-posttest model was used. The study included 8 male individuals aged 13-17 in a special education institution in Mersin province. Before and after the 8-week soccer training, 3 physical education teachers made independent observations and evaluated them with an observation form. According to the observation form pre-test and post-test mean scores, the % difference was calculated from descriptive statistics. When the pre-test and post-test percentage differences were examined; improvements were made in the areas of correct defense (40%), correct offense (40%), successful pass (40%), correct intervention (50%), goal to the opponent's goal (50%), ball control (60%), ball winning (50%), defensive error (20%), intervention to teammate (50%), goal to the wrong goal (20%), ball loss (40%) and team integrity (70%). As a result of the study, it was seen that long-term soccer training was beneficial in branch-specific skills, physical and mental development in individuals with intellectual disabilities. In addition, group consciousness was observed in individuals and behavioral changes occurred in this direction. Since there is a limited number of studies on group consciousness and group awareness in individuals with intellectual disabilities; it is thought that this study will contribute to the literature and guide future studies.

Uwagi o świadomości stanowej i politycznej w dobie bezkrólewia po Ludwiku Andegaweńskim

The interregnum after the death of Louis of Anjou (1382-1384) was an important period for the development of the social and political consciousness of active social groups in medieval Poland. The main sources of information on these issues are documents produced during public meetings and discussions. The Chronicle of John of Czarnkow also provides a lot of interesting information. An important component of the social consciousness of that time was the concept of political community (lat. communitas) at the local and national level. They were used to emphasize political unity and attachment to the idea of the common good. The noble landowner communities formed in the second half of the 14th century confederated in 1382, and two years later they also opened up to townspeople. The political community of the Kingdom composed of representatives of the nobility and townspeople turned out to be a short-lived entity, existing until the end of the interregnum. Later it was reduced to nobility.

Latino Tú Latino Yo: Group Threat and Group Consciousness in California

This paper examines the rise of group consciousness in California during the 1990s. Many scholars have studied the increase in political participation in California and have alluded to an increase in group consciousness, but studies have not captured whether or not this actually exists. In this paper, I use seven surveys conducted between 1989 and 2004 and leverage the timing of these surveys to examine the role of perceived discrimination on Latino group consciousness in California. I hypothesize that the impact of political threat motivated an increase in group consciousness, which is driven by Latinos who perceived the discriminatory nature of California’s proposition politics in the 1990s. I find support for the hypothesis that perceived discrimination is positively associated with group consciousness during this time. However, the relationship between perceived group discrimination and group consciousness weakens after the threatening time period, even though reported levels of group consciousness continued to increase. This finding suggests that group threat may activate group consciousness even after feelings of threat have subsided.

THE RESEARCH POTENTIAL OF ASSOCIATIVE LEXICOGRAPHY: PROSPECTS OF DIACHRONIC RESEARCH IN KAZAKHSTAN

The article describes the history of the formation of world associative lexicography, examines the typology and electronic databases of various associative dictionaries, their meaning and purpose in the context of psycholinguistic studies of the content and ethnocultural specificity of the linguistic consciousness of ethnic groups; gives an interpretation of the terminological apparatus used in the study of cognitive and mental processes of speech activity using associative techniques. Using the example of comparing the contents of two Kazakh associative dictionaries – the Soviet (KRAD-78) and the post-reform period (KAD-2014) – the dynamics of changes in the content of the nuclear zones of linguistic consciousness of two generations of students, participants in mass associative experiments, is demonstrated, which is convincing evidence of the serious research potential of associative lexicography and predicts the prospects of this kind of diachronic associative research. Based on the predicted scientific and socio-cultural significance of diachronic comparative associative studies, the article proposes to create another associative dictionary, expanding the list of stimulus words from 120 to 1000 in order to obtain an associative thesaurus of the Kazakh language, which will reflect a certain transformation of the linguistic consciousness of the ethnic group, and elements of stability of its central nuclear zones.

Group Consciousness, Organizational Membership, and District Choice: Evidence from the Afro-Colombian Reserved Seats

AbstractNumerous countries around the globe have undertaken efforts aimed at enhancing political representation. One of these efforts has taken the institutional form of reserved seats or ethnic districts where individuals must choose where to deposit their votes. In this paper, we ask if group consciousness and organizational membership affect the choice to vote on these types of districts. Using a mixed-methods approach by combining semi-structured interviews with elites and a subgroup analysis of a conjoint experiment in a sample of Afro-Colombians, we find evidence that group consciousness affects the preferences for ethnic districts over territorial ones. Contrary to initial expectations, we observe that membership in ethnic organizations does not significantly alter preferences for ethnic districts among surveyed individuals. These findings indicate that individuals with high levels of group consciousness tend to choose to participate more in mechanisms and institutions that can enhance the group’s political representation.

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.

Ternary Moral Empathy Model from the Perspective of Intersubjective Phenomenology.

The phenomenon of empathy is an intersubjective process of feeling and a particular form of intentionality. Moral empathy refers to a type of empathy that can trigger moral action, with the embodied intersubjectivity laying the foundation for its emergence. This paper attempts to propose a comprehensive theoretical model of moral empathy from the perspective of intersubjective phenomenology, which includes the following. (1) The moral dimension of perceptual empathy: at the subpersonal, unconscious, and perceptual-motor level, embodied empathic practices are essential for the formation of moral consciousness and the emergence of moral empathy. (2) The moral dimension of situational empathy: following the development of shared attention mechanisms, children can direct towards the intentional objects of others through embodied situational cues to perceive the psychological state of others and generate the moral empathy of "ought", leading to dyadic morality that promotes cooperative behavior. (3) The moral dimension of narrative empathy: the narrative practices of moral empathy refer to the processes by which children could perceive and understand the moral situation of characters within an embodied narrative structure, subsequently generate prosocial motives such as empathic concern, and then accept the "objective" moral norms of the group consciousness embedded in the narrative.

The Value of Pancasila as an Ideological Based for the Development of the Legal System in Indonesia

Indonesia is a multicultural society with personal and group consciousness. Legal progress in Indonesia was influenced by cultural and community awareness. Indonesia is a multicultural culture with diverse legal awareness. Although Indonesia has many cultures, the equation should be applied to construct a legal union. Pancasila is the intellectual foundation for Indonesia's unitary state; hence, passing a national law must be founded on it and the 1945 Constitution as the supreme rule to achieve national unity. This study will show that the law enacted today does not reflect Pancasila and impressed liberalism because it is draughted and enforced on the basis of normative thinking rather than empirical thinking about the case and plural society. Methodology Pancasila and culture's role in legislation that impacts the other will be thoroughly examined in this article. Thus, for the welfare of the nation and public awareness of the law, this study will explain the need for systemic and continuous legal systems that reflect the Indonesian nation, namely Pancasila-based legislation.

Research on the Construction of Teacher Professional Learning. Community in the Web 3.0 Era

China’s teacher education reform has always advocated the establishment of a teacher-professional learning community to promote teacher professional development and school progress. In the Web 3.0 era, the increasingly open, secure, and fair network has created conditions for the teacher professional learning community to conduct data confirmation. However, in China, the phenomenon of a “silent spiral” has emerged in the professional learning community of teachers, that is, the inferior opinions of teachers in the professional learning community turn to “silent”, and the superior opinions shout, which to a certain extent hinders the creation, protection, and sharing of teacher metadata, affects the development of data right confirmation in the field of education, and slows down the pace of teacher education practice. This study mainly focuses on the value of building a Chinese teacher professional learning community in the Web 3.0 era, the specific difficulties and reasons, and how to develop a Chinese teacher professional learning community in the future. This study mainly adopts the method of documentary review and draws on the “spiral of silence” theory, which regards the expression of opinions and the spread of “silence” as a spiral process of social communication, and influences and restricts public opinion by creating an “opinion environment”. It is found that under the background of the Web 3.0 era, there is an information cocoon in the professional learning community of teachers, and teachers are affected by the diversity of information. Teachers fear independence and generally produce a herd mentality. It is easy to ignore the disadvantageous climate in the professional learning community of teachers, resulting in the continuous silence of teachers. In addition, teacher groups tend to be too stressed and unable to resist the opinion environment. Therefore, the research draws the following conclusions, the construction of teacher professional learning community should adhere to positive guidance, cultivate the correct learning concept, and build the core value concept; Strengthen teachers’ group consciousness, establish a common vision, and make teachers have a sense of belonging to the community; Coordinate the “online + offline”, build a learning mechanism, and salvage the silent voice of the group in the professional learning community of teachers; Provide supporting conditions around the key development issues of the community to promote the growth of opinion climate.

Diversity, dissent, and fragmentation in the #MeToo movement: the role of collective and individual dimensions.

In this research, we examine how intragroup fragmentation, which is the division of a group into smaller subgroups, interacts with different forms of action against gender inequality. We focused on two types of action: actions that promote social change and actions that encourage retribution. We investigated these processes within the #MeToo social movement using data collected in Australia (N = 363) and Romania (N = 135). In both samples, we measured antecedents of 'group consciousness' (previous experience with discrimination, empathic concern, and perspective taking) and its indicators (social identification, perceived group efficacy beliefs, and group emotions such as anger and contempt). As indicators of intragroup fragmentation, we measured endorsement of different categories of group behaviors such as pro-social change action versus pro-retribution action. To assess the predictive power of motivations for joining the movement (antecedents of group consciousness) and of group consciousness for either pro-social or retributive actions, we tested several structural equation models (SEMs). Our results indicate that the motivations for joining such social movements were more complex than anticipated, with perspective-taking emerging as a significant differentiator. Our analyses further show that different dimensions of group consciousness could predict support for either pro-social or retributive actions. These findings highlight the complexity of the intragroup processes in newly emerging, modern social movements such as #MeToo. Our findings have implications for the study of membership dynamics in social movements and suggest that strategies to mobilise support should be tailored to these complexities. Overall, this research contributes to the current understanding of intragroup dynamics in contemporary social movements, thereby providing insights that could inform both grassroots mobilisation strategies and policy interventions aiming to increase gender equality.

Critical Adoptee Standpoint: Transnational, Transracial Adoptees as Knowledge Producers

Drawing on Asian adoptee-authored research, this article conceptualizes a critical adoptee standpoint. It underscores the significance of adoptees as knowledge producers and offers new insights into family dynamics, racialization processes, and adoptee personhood. Through three conceptual themes derived from adoptee-authored research, it illuminates the intersectional power dynamics shaping adoptees’ lived experiences and challenges traditional adoption narratives. This approach repositions adoptees as agentic subjects who have cultivated a group consciousness that transcends traditional boundaries of belonging. While focused on Asian adoptees, the essay ultimately calls for broader recognition of adoptees’ contributions to adoption discourse and a more comprehensive understanding of a critical adoptee standpoint in both academic and advocacy settings and among the broader adoptee population.

Maradona’s death in Argentine media landscape: from class consciousness to group consciousness? A theoretical proposal to overcome conceptual nostalgia

ABSTRACT This article analyses certain Argentine media landscape’s reception of worldwide football star Diego Maradona’s death, on 25 November 2020. I focused on one specific national media (the left-wing or social-democrat journal Página/12) to scrutinize how certain both male and female writers and intellectuals depict Maradona, write about his football prowess and personal affairs, praise and remembers him. The underlying hypothesis of my article is that the perception – in that aforementioned coverage – of Maradona as a class consciousness holder because of his poor background and upbringing in the Fiorito shantytown is an example of conceptual nostalgia, while actually both his professional career and personal life are better graspable through the category of group consciousness. To deepen this theoretical disquisition, I draw upon the contributions of Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukács and English Cultural Critic Mark Fisher.

Education, perceived discrimination, and identity voting: evidence from Brazil’s 2018 election

ABSTRACT Brazil’s electoral arena has long been characterized as devoid of identity politics. Recent analyses, however, have uncovered shifting racial subjectivities and effects of race and gender on electoral preferences. This paper leverages Brazil’s 2018 election to reassess conventional wisdom and test whether recent findings derived from racial groups extend to other subordinate social groups in this context, namely women and sexual minorities. I test two hypotheses: (1) that higher levels of education correlate with greater perceptions of group-based discrimination, and (2) that perceptions of group-based discrimination explain within-group variation in support for Bolsonaro. Analysis of national survey data show that education correlates with group consciousness among subordinate groups, and that these individuals are more likely to oppose the far-right populist candidate. This article provides a more complete understanding of the electoral salience of identity in the Brazilian context, and provides evidence that insights derived from one marginalized group can extend to others.

Dubla periferalitate a poetelor din perioada interbelică: Infantilizarea și minimalizarea autoarelor de la cenaclul Sburătorul

This study investigates, on the one hand, the mechanisms of making invisible the texts written by interwar women writers and, on the other hand, their double peripherality in the modernist canon, using elements of literary sociology as methodology. At the same time, a metacritical reflection on the representations of poets in literary criticism identifies the ways in which the voices of interwar women poets were reduced to forms of creation with a secondary degree of importance. The study focuses on the infantilization and minimalization of the poets of the Sburătorul cenacle, considering its modernist contribution and importance in the interwar literary climate in Romania and the way in which the two imperatives that are imposed in the cenacle as forms of literary sociability, group consciousness & the process of creative individualization, generate a reduction and dislocation of the position of women writers, socializing them into the category of „feminine literature”. Two „recuperations’ of interwar women poets are also questioned, that of Al. Cistelecan, Fete pierdute. Notițe pentru o istorie a poesia feminine românești [Lost Girls: Notes Towards a History on Romanian Feminine Poetry], and the anthology coordinated by Alina Purcaru & Paula Erizanu, Un secol de poezie română scrisă de femei (1918-1944) [A Century of Romanian Poetry Written By Women (1918-1944)], problematizing how the reparative revisiting of the contributions made by women poets is functionalized.

:The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America

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Relationship between Chinese Men and Indigenous Women in Gowok (1929): Postcolonial Feminist Studies

This study aims to analyse how a Chinese-Indonesia descent male author represented indigenous women in Novel Gowok (1929). Gowok is a novel written by Liem Khing Hoo, depicting a relationship of race and gender under colonial discourse. To pursue the aim of this study, postcolonial feminist approach was used to reveal the quality of ideological and political relation under colonial discourse. The data collected were focussed on the relationship of women and race in this novel, the social group consciousness of the author, and colonial discourse. The results showed two points. First, the narrative of the indigenous women in this novel reflected the voice of Chinese-Indonesia descents from the moderate social group based on racial and gender relation. Second, the relationship of the indigenous women and the Chinese-Indonesia descents could be considered as political and ideological relation to realize tradition or culture nationalism concept in colonial contexts. In conclusion, this concept brings ambiguity characters.

Comparative Psychological Content Analysis of Collective Victimhood in Hungarian National Narratives Among Emigrant and Non-Emigrant Groups

Present research aims to identify narrative markers of victimization comparing narratives of emigrant Hungarians in the UK and non-emigrant Hungarians. 121 interviews were collected and analyzed via automatic content analysis software (NarrCat). 54 non-emigrant Hungarians and 67 emigrant Hungarians participated in our sample (average age: 45.65, 71,5% female). Our research has proven that victimization has narrative markers (low agency and psychological perspective taking and increased amount of negative evaluation) that can be identified in narratives related to individual path and national history. MANOVA analysis showed that more narrative markers of victimization can be found in the narratives of non-emigrants while more agency is observable in the narratives of emigrants. The result of narrative analysis was underlined by the fact that emigration also had significant effect on perceived importance of past victimization. Our conclusion suggests that differences can be observed in the construction of narratives and consequently in the interpretation of perceived collective victim consciousness of emigrant and non-emigrant groups.