Identity Conflict Research Articles

Challenging ‘Leftist Big Tech’ through Right-wing Alternative Social Media: Parler and Albicla in Polish Conservative Media Discourse

Numerous “free speech” platforms have been launched in recent years as a form of protest against content moderation practices on mainstream social media. This paper asks the question of how the issue of these emerging right-wing alternative social media is discursively constructed, taking as an example the Polish conservative media debate over the American service Parler and its Polish equivalent Albicla. Taking a critically discursive approach, the article provides an analysis of the discursive strategies applied, and critically embeds the findings in the broader socio-political context, as well as in the alternative media theory. The results show that, drawing on the wartime rhetoric and numerous references to Poland’s non-democratic past, the discourse creates a populist narrative of identity conflict between two opposing groups: “them” – hostile “leftists” seeking to impose a radical, progressive social order and “us” – oppressed protectors of freedom and common-sense values. The study additionally indicates that the issue is also utilised for the purposes of rivalry between domestic right-wing factions. Furthermore, the data contains frequent reference to issues of political economy and thus, intriguingly, overlaps to some extent with left-wing media critique, in that both agree on the necessity of contesting a monopolised media market and developing alternative means of communication.

Идентичность в условиях трансформации миропорядка: дискурсы и нарративы

A roundtable titled ‘Identity in the Time of World Order Transformation: Discourses and Narratives’ was held on the 2nd of December 2023, at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. It was a part of the All-Russian conference with international participation ‘Political Science in a Changing World: New Practices and Theoretical Research’ organized by the Russian Political Science Association (RPSA). At RPSA, the event was arranged by the Research Committee on political identity. The roundtable moderator was Semenenko I.S., Corresponding Member of the RAS, Doct. Sci. (Polit. Sci.), Head of Centre for Comparative Socioeconomic and Political Studies, Deputy Director for Scientific Work of IMEMO, RAS, RPSA Research Committee on political identity coordinator, supervisor of Identity Research Network; the co-moderator was Fadeeva L.A., Doct. Sci. (Polit. Sci.), Professor, Department of Political Science, Perm State University. The key trends, problems and achievements regarding identity studies in Russia and abroad, new discourses and narratives in political science and public policy, especially ones relevant to Russia, were analyzed. The discussion focused on the problems of political identity and identity politics in terms of a forming polycentric world, identity dimension of archaization discourses, neotraditionalism, Balkanization, manifesting identity conflicts, identity securitization and ethnopolitical conflicts. The speakers were as follows: Semenenko I.S.; Fadeeva L.A.; staff members of Sector for Analysis of Political Change and Identity, Department for Comparative Political Studies, Centre for Comparative Socioeconomic and Political Studies, IMEMO – Cand. Sci. (Chem.), Leading Researcher Lapkin V.V, Doct. Sci. (Philos.), Senior Researcher Kamkin A.K., Cand. Sci. (Polit. Sci.), Researcher Popadeva T.I., Junior Researcher Khaynatskaya T.I.; staff of Sector for International Organizations and Global Political Governance, Department for International Political Problems, IMEMO – Doct. Sci. (Polit.), Head of the Sector Prokhorenko I.L., Senior Research Assistant Shpak M.A.; staff of Department of Public Policy and Public Administration, Kuban State University (Krasnodar) – Doct. Sci. (Philos.), Professor Morozova E.V., Cand. Sci. (Polit. Sci.), Associate Professor Bashmakov I.S.; Kalashnikova S.K., postgraduate student St Petersburg University, Junior Researher, Center for Science, Education and Information Programs, INION RAN; Pogodina M.Ya., Research Assistant, Faculty of Political Science, St Petersburg University, Junior Researher, Center for Science, Education and Information Programs, INION RAN; Romanova A.H., Doct. Sci. (Philos.), Director of Institute for Research on the Problems of the South of Russia and the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan State University named after V.N. Tatishchev (Astrakhan); Sagitova L.V., Doct. Sci. (Polit. Sci.), Leading Researcher, Department of Ethnology, Sh. Marjani Institute of History, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan); Sargsyan O.L., Cand. Sci. (Philos.), Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Political Science, Institute of Law and Politics, Russian-Armenian University (the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan). The review of the roundtable materials was compiled by Prokhorenko I.L., Doct. Sci. (Polit.), Head of the Sector for International Organizations and Global Political Governance, Department for International Political Problems, IMEMO (irinapr@imemo.ru, ORCID: 0000-0002-8090-7934).

Identity Conflict Amidst Environmental Change: An Ethnography of a Korean Buddhist Temple

AbstractDrawing on a Buddhist context, this study examines how societal‐level environmental changes trigger internal identity conflict within a temple between its traditional identity as a silent meditative space for monks and its emerging identity as an open cultural space for people. It investigates the long‐term adaptive process through which the conflict has been recognized and managed amid the environmental changes. The findings reveal that the identity conflict gradually led to the formation of two subgroups of monks: a sacred meditator group and a cultural service provider group. While this separation created mild tension between the subgroups, it paradoxically enabled the temple to simultaneously seek two opposing goals: spiritual meditation practice and cultural service. Consequently, the temple continues to pursue the traditional way of monastic life, while responding to the changing societal demands on religion. These findings extend our understanding of how organizational identity conflict is recognized, interpreted, and managed in response to environmental changes. In particular, they elucidate the link between identity and institutional processes by showing how organizational members, not necessarily through the leaders' agentic actions, spontaneously and organically cope with identity conflict triggered by external changes.

From conflict of discourses to military conflict: multimodality of identity construction in Russo-Ukrainian war discourse

This study is an attempt to grasp the discursive nature of Russo-Ukrainian war. The critical discourse analysis of the conflicting ways Russian and Ukrainian identities are constructed in discourse and by discourse can shed light onto the covert reasons of the unprovoked military aggression Russia has been executing against Ukraine. Our assumptions are based on the idea that identity is a manifold of stances taken by individual as well as collective speakers in various situations of communication. Having epistemic and affective dimensions, stances are inherently interactive, and, thus, have a collective or social nature. Generally speaking, conflictual stances, built in war discourse, express national, political, or sociological worldviews of the stance-takers, reflecting their ideologies, values, and beliefs. The way people see the conflict differs according to what "frames" they choose to see it through. In this study, the frames circumscribing Ukrainian and Russian conflictual identities, as they are built in Ukrainian and Russian media discourse, including social media, have been deconstructed and analyzed. As there are diverse semiotic systems that are used to create, transmit and understand meanings (e.g., verbal and non-verbal, written and oral, visual and audial) various modalities employed in the process of discursive construction of these identities were taken into consideration.

Revisiting the bottleneck hypothesis: The role of sexual identity development in the career exploration and decision-making of sexual minority college students

Hetherington's (1991) “bottleneck hypothesis”, which maintains that the process of sexual identity development can hamper the career development of sexual minority college students, has received periodic study. We revisited this hypothesis using the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM; Lent & Brown, 2013) as a theoretical framework. An online survey of 225 sexual minority and 287 heterosexual college students did not reveal a robust between-group bottleneck effect. For example, no significant mean level differences were observed between the two groups in career decision-making process and outcome variables, such as career decision-making anxiety and level of career decidedness. In addition, a CSM-based path model of career decision-making was found to be invariant across the two student groups. However, a few noteworthy within-group patterns were observed. For example, a cluster analysis suggested the presence of two sexual minority sub-groups who differed regarding level of outness and difficulties negotiating their sexual identity. The more identity-integrated cluster reported less decisional anxiety and greater decidedness than their less identity-integrated peers. Indicators of identity conflict and level of disclosure were also linked to perceived support and goals for future career exploration. The pattern of findings suggests that sexual minority identity development in college does not represent a monolithic bottleneck to career development. However, a more nuanced bottleneck effect in career decision-making may be linked to students' intrapersonal and social comfort in negotiating their sexual minority identity. Implications for the bottleneck hypothesis and further research on sexual minority students' career exploration and decision-making are discussed.

One hundred years of health in a demographic, epidemiological and public policy context: the transition of childhood morbidity and its challenges

Chile is in an advanced stage of demographic and epidemiological transition. It is in this scenario that the political, economic and health crisis occurred, with the social outbreak in 2019 and then the COVID-19 pandemic. The mortality of children and adolescents dropped significantly, however, changes in lifestyles and demotivation, associated with long confinement and worsening health of parents and caregivers triggered an epidemic of mental health, developmental and nutritional problems. Pediatricians were forced to reinvent themselves, exposing themselves to stress and burnout. The aim of the manuscript is to describe the demographic, epidemiological and public policy context of child health in Chile in the last century, as a backdrop to dimension the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new health challenges for this age group in the medium and long term are discussed. Some theories, conceptualizations, and relevant milestones of the public health system in Chile are presented. The emergence of "post-pandemic morbidity", such as sedentary lifestyle, food insecurity, screen addiction, identity conflicts, violence, mental health disorders and reemergence of morbidity and mortality due to infectious and contagious diseases is discussed. Professionals responsible for the care of children must redouble their efforts to provide comprehensive care, accompanying families in the new challenges, in order to rehabilitate a healthy childhood.

Difficulties of Students from the Palestinian Authority who Learn in an Arab High School in Israel

The aim of research is to investigate high school students who have moved to Israel from the Palestinian Authority in order to study. We used qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews. The research participants of this study were students and teachers affiliated with a high school in the North of Israel. The paper discusses those students’ experiences of identity crisis between their self-identity and their national identity. The paper also voices the students’ feelings of alienation and disconnection to their school community, leading to gaps in the academic, social, and familial difficulties. This study shows that these difficulties lead to a conflict of identity between their original identity – the Palestinian Authority – and their new identity as students in an Arab school in Israel. This situation might lead to feelings of disconnection and alienation, that must be addressed by the entire school community.

Transports of Translation: Creativity and Healing

Along with the numerous cultural, religious or political functions of translation (establishing religious authority or nation-building, for instance, as with the King James Version of the Bible), along with its didactic use in language-learning and its intercultural one in aesthetic transmission and appropriation, translation can also play a healing role. Bi- or plurilingual speakers and language students often experience difficulties of various kinds, including insecurity in one of the languages, unintentional code-switching and “attacks” of awkward, embarrassing untranslatability, or conflicts of loyalty due to the “inferior” status of the mother tongue. Children who cannot translate their experience of school into the language spoken in their home, or their “interior language” (De Mattia-Viviès) for instance, or plurilingual parents unable to translate the symptoms of their child for the psychiatrist, as well as students learning foreign languages, can all benefit from the transports of translation. The polysemy of the term “transport” – both conveyance from one place to another and “an intense exaltation of mind and feelings” that “lifts one out of oneself” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), will help us conceptualise the pedagogic and therapeutic value of practising translation. This short article will look at creative translation workshops as a means to vindicate all languages, to heal conflicted identities by facilitating and fluidifying movement between languages.

Identity work in the backstage: exploring the role of expatriate bubbles in identity work of self-initiated expatriate engineers through a Goffmanian lens

PurposeWhile there is vast research on expatriate adjustment, it is still known very little on how self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in particular might cope with identity conflicts and how they engage with identity work. What is more, although there is some literature on the existence of expatriate bubbles, this does not cover how these bubbles might impact identity work. The purpose of this paper is to explore identity work that is taking place within expatriate bubbles and thus advance our knowledge on both expatriate bubbles and expatriate adjustment.Design/methodology/approachThe study reports on the analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interview data collected from 37 self-initiated expatriate engineers from Greece, Spain and Italy, currently residing in Bristol, UK.FindingsPrevious studies have argued that expatriate bubbles impede adjustment. The study analysis, however, shows that expatriate bubbles can be not only a powerful mechanism for coping with foreignness and strengthening their sense of belonging but also act as identity workspaces where SIEs engaged with identity work and navigated identity conflicts.Originality/valueThe present study addresses two empirical gaps: the paucity of literature on the identity work that self-initiated expatriates engage with and the paucity studies on self-initiated expatriate engineers. The study also has a theoretical contribution as, drawing upon a Goffmanian dramaturgical framework sheds light on the back regions of performance taking place within expatriate bubbles. Thus, showing how SIEs relax but also rehearse their performances in order to reduce any identity gaps triggered by the new organisational and national context.

First do no harm: Principles of care for clients with sexual identity confusion and/or conflict.

Individuals who experience sexual identity confusion and/or conflict face unique stressors and life circumstances for which they may seek psychotherapy; however, little specific guidance exists for therapists working with clients who experience sexual identity confusion and/or conflict. To meet this need, we present a framework for therapists whose clients experience distress related to sexual identity confusion and/or conflict. We first define and describe sexual identity confusion and conflict, situating both in developmental theories of sexual identity. We then review clinical approaches that have been used historically to inform treatment with clients experiencing sexual identity confusion and/or conflict. Next, we discuss guiding ethical and clinical principles to inform such a clinical approach. Then, we provide assessment and treatment recommendations. We conclude by discussing considerations for working with clients who are diverse in gender identity, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Arabic Language Reality between Globalization and Identities Conflict

This study attempts to investigate the linguistic reality that the Arabic language faces at three levels: First, the globalization and linguistic imperialism that imposed the English language under the new world order, creating bilingualism or multilingualism. Second, the identity conflict between Arabic nationalism, represented by standard Arabic, and nation-states represented by their dialects. Third, the linguistic entities (pidgin) created by economically, politically, and socially oppressed groups, have not been integrated into the societies where they moved to. Therefore, they have created a fragile system of communication consisting of the two languages combination. This paper, hence, tries to analyze the linguistic phenomena, the identities conflict, and their implications on the Arabic language by extrapolating some written samples and exploring its reflections.

Supplemental Material for The Impact of Social Identity Conflict on Planning Horizons

Supplemental Material for The Impact of Social Identity Conflict on Planning Horizons

How does ingroup identification predict forgiveness in post-conflict societies? The role of conflict narratives.

People's religious identity is often the central identity in many ethnopolitical conflicts. These identities in conflict contexts may be associated with how people see conflict and their willingness to forgive the outgroup members for their wrongdoings in the past. Study 1 (N=287) tested how religious group identification in the Northern Irish context predicted forgiveness through the endorsement of dominant conflict narratives (i.e., terrorism and independence narratives) among Protestants and Catholics. We also tested how group membership may moderate these relationships. The results showed that among Protestants, higher Protestant identification predicted less forgiveness through higher endorsement of the terrorism narrative and less endorsement of the independence narrative. Among Catholics, on the other hand, higher Catholic identification predicted stronger endorsement of the independence narrative, and in turn, less forgiveness. Study 2 (N=526) aimed to replicate the findings of Study 1 with a larger sample and extend them by testing the role of an alternative conflict narrative (i.e., the Northern Irish identity narrative). The results were largely replicated for the independence and terrorism narratives, and the Northern Irish identity narrative was associated with higher forgiveness across both groups. We discuss the results in terms of how ingroup identities and conflict narratives can become both facilitators of and barriers to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies.

The relationship between non-suicidal self-injury, identity conflict, and risky behavior among Druze adolescents.

This study aimed to explore the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among Druze adolescents in Israel, an ethnic minority, and examine the influence of identity conflict, depression, and performance of risky behaviors on such adolescents' engagement in NSSI. This investigation is important because little is known about NSSI among adolescents from ethnic minorities. Overall, 290 Druze adolescents aged 16-18 (mean = 16.26, standard deviation = 0.9) years (63.9% female) participated in this study. They were recruited through snowball sampling from three Druze schools that agreed to participate in the study. All participants completed self-report measures for NSSI, depression, anxiety, engagement in risky behaviors, emotion regulation, sleep problems, and identity integration. Almost 20% of the total sample engaged in NSSI. Those who engaged in NSSI reported more significant depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and engagement in risky behaviors when compared with those who did not engage in NSSI. Moreover, those who engaged in NSSI reported experiencing a higher level of identity conflict. Further analysis revealed an indirect effect of identity conflict on NSSI through engagement in risky behaviors. This study's findings clarify the prevalence of NSSI among Druze adolescents, as well as contributing factors, and also highlights the importance of developing interventions that specifically target this unique ethnic group.

The Mental Health of Young Return Migrants with Ancestral Roots in Their Destination Country: A Cross-Sectional Study Focusing on the Ethnic Identities of Japanese-Brazilian High School Students Living in Japan.

The number of young Japanese Brazilians, who are return migrants with Japanese ancestral roots, is increasing rapidly in Japan. However, the characteristics of their mental health and the relation between mental health and a complex ethnic identity remains unclear. This cross-sectional study compared 25 Japanese-Brazilian high school students with 62 Japanese high school students living in the same area. Research using self-report questionnaires on mental health, help-seeking behavior tendencies, and ethnic identity was conducted. The Japanese-Brazilian group was also divided into high and low ethnic identity groups, and their mental health conditions were compared. The Japanese-Brazilian group had significantly poorer mental health conditions and lower ethnic identities than the Japanese group and were less likely to seek help from family members and close relatives. Among the Japanese Brazilians, those with low ethnic identity had significantly poorer mental health than those with high ethnic identity. Young Japanese Brazilians may face conflicts of ethnic identity that can disturb their mental health. To build an inclusive society, the establishment of community services to support mental health and to help return migrants develop their ethnic identity is essential.

‘Agree to disagree’: Reconciling an English teacher’s identity tensions in negotiating an educational reform through a community of practice perspective

Educational reforms often precipitate teacher tensions that subsequently impact teacher identity (re)construction. Adopting a community of practice (CoP) framework to examine identity-, belief- and emotion-inflected tensions, and drawing on data from five rounds of interviews, our longitudinal case study traced the identity reformation of an English teacher, Lee, as he negotiated an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reform in China. We found that Lee’s constant teacher identity conflicts were intertwined with tensions that arose as he negotiated his (1) beliefs about students’ needs and acknowledgment of their language incompetency, and (2) reform-positive emotions and self-negative emotions. Our findings revealed, however, that these tensions were mediated through the assistance afforded by his CoP, which, on the one hand, effectively scaffolded community members’ teaching practices and helped ease the tensions that emerged but, on the other hand, created space for multiple voices to coexist, make adjustments, and thus subsequently achieve reconciliation. Highlighting the role of CoP in teacher development, our findings help advance the teacher identity research agenda by taking a holistic view on work-related tensions, and thus bear implications for educational reformers, teacher educators, and university administrators.

An Analysis of Identity Conflict Among Health-Conscious Sport Fans

Scholars have begun to explore the interplay between the multiple identities within a sport fan’s salience hierarchy, noting fandom may compete with other central roles. Researchers have also recently emphasized well-being outcomes for fans, with increasing focus on physical health. Though sport consumer behavior and health consciousness have concurrently emerged, the social psychological connection between the two is unclear. Thus, we aim to clarify this relationship. We leverage an emerging quantitative approach: polynomial regression and response surface methodology. Our findings indicate individuals who value both fandom and health consciousness (i.e., demonstrate high fan identity and health consciousness congruence) experience identity conflict, with men reporting higher levels of identity conflict than women. Thus, we contribute to literature on the potential negative sides (or challenges) of fan identity. The food and sedentarism common to fan culture appear to prompt psychological turmoil for health-conscious individuals. Fan identity may naturally integrate with other social roles, yet our results indicate fandom and health consciousness are often viewed in conflict.

Multicultural coexistence as a site of otherness and becoming self: A narrative of a multilingual

AbstractIdentity is a subject of intense scrutiny in the field of Applied Linguistics. Of particular concern are issues of intersectionality of language and culture in the lives of minority groups. Yet, the empirical evidence in support of language and cultural identity (re)construction of ethnic minorities in Japan is far from conclusive. Drawing on a narrative inquiry approach, the present study seeks to shed light on multilingual identity construction and negotiation in different language contexts, as experienced by Riko, a third‐generation Japanese woman of Korean descent. Our analysis shows that Riko's multilingual identity is undermined in Japan and Korea where monoglossic ideologies are still prevalent. The sociohistorical and sociopolitical context of Japan and Korea does not allow her to have any middle ground, exacerbating the potential for multilingual identity conflicts. In contrast, Riko's US study abroad experience aids her in cultivating a critical and deeper understanding of being a multilingual citizen. Findings further highlight the role of English which enables her to transcend the challenges posed by her ethnicity. In light of our findings, we draw implications for the significance of developing greater global and cultural awareness in language education and academic programs.

Identity and pregnancy in conflict?: an examination of sexual minority women using qualitative description

While there is growing documentation of pregnancy among sexual minority women, little research has focused on their perceptions and experiences of conflict between sexual minority identity and pregnancy. Because of this, this study used Social Identity Theory and qualitative descriptive analysis to explore the following questions: do sexual minority women perceive sexual minority identity and pregnancy as in conflict; and if so, from where does this conflict arise and how do sexual minority women experience it? Participants included 21 lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and other non-heterosexual cisgender women, a third of whom had previously been pregnant. Themes captured internally located conflict, including participants who saw pregnancy as irrelevant and those who experienced pregnancy as acceptable for sexual minority women; imposed conflict from healthcare contexts, including both health provider assumptions and imposed conflict on reproductive autonomy; and ambivalence. Overall, few participants noted internalised conflict between their sexual minority identity and pregnancy. Instead, sexual minority women experienced ambivalence or imposed conflict between their sexual minority identities and pregnancy from their health providers, although this imposed conflict was not limited to sexual orientation.

The Interaction of War Impacts on Education: Experiences of School Teachers and Leaders

Education, the backbone of any nation’s development, demands the presence of not only infrastructure and facilities but also a peaceful environment. The war in Yemen has had a strong, negative impact on education. In our study, we employed narrative inquiry and developed a structured interview guideline to explore the experiences of school teachers and leaders regarding the war’s impacts on education. After collecting and analyzing one hundred written narratives, we developed and conducted a semi-structured interview with four female and six male school teachers and leaders to answer the study questions. The findings highlighted the displacement and discrimination, the use of children as fighters for the future, the conflict of identities among children, the destruction of children’s physical and mental health, the exploitation of education for financial benefits, the normalization of negative behaviors, and the destruction of teacher’s dignity. These findings were also conceptualized in a simple model that showed the interaction of these war impacts on the teachers and learners. Further, focusing on how the domestic cultural and social contexts interact with these impacts is necessary to enhance understanding, solidarity, and tolerance among individuals and achieve a peaceful and cohesive society.