Importance Of Social Identity Research Articles

Race, Political Ideology, and Support for Defunding the Police in the United States

ABSTRACT This study investigates public attitudes toward “Defund the Police” proposals amid U.S. protests against racism and police brutality. Analysis of 2021 General Social Survey data reveals that racial identity and political ideology significantly shape these attitudes. Black Americans demonstrate the highest support for defunding, followed by Hispanic Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, reflecting diverse historical and cultural experiences with the government. Political ideology further polarizes opinions, with liberals more supportive and conservatives more opposed. These findings highlight the complexities of addressing systemic issues in criminal justice and the importance of social identities in shaping attitudes toward police reform.

Social identity, mental health and the experience of migration.

Evidence suggests that social identities, which provide purpose and a sense of belonging, enhance resilience against psychological strain and safeguard well-being. This applies to first-generation migrant populations facing adverse experiences, including prejudice and disconnection from previous identities during host country integration, negatively impacting their well-being. The importance of social identity also extends to first-generation migrant descendants, confronting dual-identity challenges and experiencing exclusion and discrimination despite being native born. Building on the social identity approach to mental health, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate how migrants construct their social identities, their perspective on the challenges and changes they experience in relation to group memberships and ultimately, the influence this has on their psychological well-being. Findings emphasize the significance of social identity continuity and gain pathways in first-generation migrants' successful adjustment and psychological well-being. For second-generation migrants, dual-identity development is especially difficult during adolescence due to social exclusion and discrimination in schools. Even in early adulthood, pressure to maintain heritage identity can lead to negative mental health outcomes over time. The current study contributes to and strengthens the social identity approach to migrant mental health and has wider implications for psychological interventions and policy.

Communication in a Medical Emergency: The Influence of Intergroup Communication on Frontline Healthcare Workers’ Mental Health

Hospitals involve a complex socio-technical health system, where communication failures influence the quality of patient care. Research indicates the importance of social identity and intergroup relationships articulated through power, control, status and competition. In particular, Frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) is clinical workplaces in which doctors are involved in many social groups, including representatives of different professions, clinical specialities and workplace teams under crisis handling condition. A web-based cross-sectional survey was carried out between 1 and 12 December 2022 on a Jakarta area sample of 53 HCWs in Indonesia. The study questionnaire included 7 questions on the mental health of HCWs post-COVID-19 crisis and was analysed using Leximancer (text mining software) and interpretation of major themes. Findings indicated that intergroup conflict is a central influence on communication. Contested responsibilities emerged from a model of care driven by single-speciality professional identity and professionalism may be viewed in terms of self-categorisation rather than simply attainment. The salience of different identities may be considered as influences on teamwork and interprofessional learning, and issues in communication and assessment may be considered in terms of intergroup biases. These results contribute to the growing literature on communication organization and offer new practical insights on how to improve overall efficiency and work performance under crisis conditions.

Won't you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractSocial identities are an important resource, especially during times of crisis. They provide shared meaning, as well as access to social and instrumental support. The COVID‐19 pandemic, although global in nature, was experienced very locally; many people stopped traveling and were often confined to their homes and neighborhoods. We reasoned this would make American residents' local community identities especially important. We collected data at five time points between April 2020 and March 2021 and measured American adults' social identification with their local community, identification with a self‐nominated important group, and stress. We found that stress decreased over the first few months of the pandemic, then leveled out. Importantly, this decrease was more pronounced among people who strongly identified with their local communities. Furthermore, community identities were stronger predictors of stress decreases than social groups that respondents themselves nominated as highly important to them (e.g., family, friends). These results held controlling for age, gender, political conservatism, and other variables. This research provides important insights into the importance of social identities, and specifically local communities, during times of crisis.

Social identity and the mental health and wellbeing of male veterans.

Previous work has linked disruptions in one's social identity to increased levels of depression and suicide among veterans. This study examines the relationship between veteran social identity (as measured by the public and private regard subscales of the Warrior Identity Scale) and mental health and wellbeing among male veterans. Male veterans (N = 67) completed the Warrior Identity Scale as well as various measures of mental health and wellbeing. The hypotheses were supported in that more positive views of one's social identity (i.e., more private regard) predicted significantly fewer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, less depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, stress, and more perceived social support. More public regard, on the other hand, was related to more PTSD symptoms. This research adds to the growing work on the importance of social identity (as measured by public and private regard) in predicting mental health symptomatology among male veterans, which may act as important risk factors in clinical settings.

Multiracial Race Self-Labeling Decisions: The Influence of Gender, Social Class, and Political Party Affiliation

The growing prominence of the multiracial population in the United States is prompting new questions about the importance of social identities on race self-labeling decisions. I review and expand on a growing body of research on this population that focuses on identifying and describing nonracial categories important to shaping racial identities. Specifically, I utilized a national survey of U.S. adults administered by the Pew Research Center to investigate how social identities defined by nonracial categories such as gender, social class, and political party affiliation impact the race self-labels of multiracial people. In addition, I consider factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure and their potential influence on race self-labeling decisions. The findings indicate that gender, social class, and political party affiliation are potential predictors of race self-labeling decisions of multiracial people. After adding the factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure, the results remain significant. In addition, the results for social class and political party affiliation reinforce the actuality that a pervasive racial hierarchy and social stratification system, situated in the context of White supremacy, is embedded within U.S. society.

Fiscal federalism, social identity and place-based resentment

ABSTRACT We highlight the importance of social identity and place-based resentment rather than economic positions to explain preferences for interregional fiscal redistribution. We use the 2019 Confederation of Tomorrow survey to study the equalization programme in Canada, the main vehicle for interregional fiscal redistribution in the country. We find that among respondents living in richer provinces, support for equalization depends on identification towards the province (relative to Canada) and on the perception of Quebec, the province seen as an ‘out-group’ benefiting from the programme. Among recipient provinces, support for interregional fiscal redistribution is high, regardless of identity.

The importance of social identity on password formulations

Passwords are regarded as the most common authentication mechanism used by Web-based services, despite large-scale attacks and data breaches regularly exploiting password-associated vulnerabilities. We investigate the trends behind password formulation in an exploratory study to postulate that social identity and language play a major role in users’ general attitude toward formulating passwords. For this, we conduct a descriptive analysis of two publicly available datasets containing real username and password combinations to determine whether these socio-cultural factors play a formative role in how users formulate their passwords across countries. The preliminary results confirm that both these elements contribute to increased vulnerabilities associated with passwords. The novelty of our work lies in the exploratory investigation of identifiable trends in password formulation with regard to social context (language and identity influences) and technical context (particularly password structure). The impact of our study is a move toward a better understanding of human behavior in the context of password formulation specifically, to enable the future crafting of more targeted cybersecurity interventions that would lead to positive online behavioral change.

Community-based Peer Sexual Health Educators: Lessons from Youth

Abstract
 Developing and utilizing youth community members as peer educators is a growing and common phenomenon in health and social services, largely because of the organic learning and modelling processes in their everyday lives made possible by peer-to-peer processes. Part of what makes peer education effective over professional education is the potential rapport and trust built through shared lived experiences and identities between peers. There is significant potential for engaging peers in sexual health education specifically. This small-scale qualitative study explores the sexual health education needs of youth staying/living in York Region who identify as part of LGBTQ+ communities, as well as youth who either experience homelessness or experience serious mental health problems using a focus group methodology. The objective of this study is to report on the findings from the first session in a series of focus groups. Findings suggest that education about the consent to sexual activity is a significant area of need for all participants, and has implications in terms of the social context for participants. Emerging findings will be discussed in terms of participants’ expressed needs, such as a greater emphasis on consent, using all venues to discuss consent and relationships, and the importance of social identity of educators matching that of participants.
 
 
 

Радикализация в местах заключения: подход социальной идентичности

The article analyzes research on the spread of extremist ideology in prisons and uses the theory of social identity to understand the mechanism of radicalization in conditions of isolation. The urgency of addressing this problem is explained by the fact that since the events of September 11, 2001, it is the radicalization in prisons that has turned into a serious threat to the security of different countries. In addition measures to counter terrorism necessarily rely on knowledge of the psychological laws by which radicalization occurs; equally, like the development of preventive measures aimed at convicts as well as the creation of deradicalization programs, are based on an understanding of the mechanisms of social behavior. The focus of the work is on the concept of modern terrorism proposed by J. Baudrillard, the problem of radicalization and the spread of the ideology of extremism in prisons is studied, the importance of social identity in connection with the process of radicalization in a situation of isolation is demonstrated. A special role is given to the ideas of M. Hogg’s theory of uncertainty-identity (the motivational direction of the approach of social identity). According to her, experiencing uncertainty, people become inclined to the division of radical ideas and membership in the corresponding groups, because in this way they receive direct and unambiguous answers to their questions. The way to reduce uncertainty is belonging to a group, since the latter is the basis for self-determination, that is, individuals in it acquire the desired social identity, receive norms and rules of behavior, direction of thoughts and feelings. In conclusion the possibilities of the social identity approach for diagnosing persons vulnerable to involvement in terrorist activities are explained.

Constructing the rapist: patterns of reporting sexual violence to the police

ABSTRACTExisting research establishes the importance of social identities and public discourse in reifying existing power structures. By examining the poignant case of the crime of sexual violence, we explore the construction of the identities of rapist and victim. In this paper, we look specifically at police reporting of sexual violence as perpetuating a ‘common sense’ of criminalization, with the identity of the rapist serving as the primary factor of police reporting. We employ regression analyses of victim responses in the 2015 National Criminal Victimization Survey in order to understand the dynamics behind victim reporting. This research confirms the hypothesis that, in the case of sexual assault, rape victims are more likely to perceive the bodies criminalized in public discourse – particularly Black offenders – as those as having committed crimes, and are therefore more likely to engage with the state through police reporting.

The importance of social identities in the management of and recovery from ‘Diabulimia’: A qualitative exploration

IntroductionA significant barrier to recovery for individuals with co-morbid eating disorders and type 1 diabetes is the way in which group members self-categorise. Nonetheless, identity issues are neglected during the recovery process. The aim of this paper is to explore how group memberships (and the associated identities) both contribute to and hinder recovery in this cohort. MethodTranscripts from five online focus groups with 13 members of an online support group for individuals with ‘Diabulimia’ were thematically analysed. ResultsFindings suggested that those with whom one shares a recovery identity can be well placed to provide psychological resources necessary for successful recovery although such connections can be damaging if group norms are not managed. Members recognised that other important relationships (including family and friends and health professionals) are also key to recovery; these other group memberships (and the associated identities) can be facilitated through the recovery identity group membership, which allows for external validation of the recovery identity, provides encouragement to disclose the illness to supportive others, and provides information to facilitate positive service interactions. ConclusionsWhile clinical interventions typically focus on eliminating disordered behaviours, we suggest that these should also include strengthening important group memberships that promote recovery.

Contingent Self‐Esteem, Self‐Presentational Concerns, and Compulsive Buying

ABSTRACTThe present study investigates the influence of contingent self‐esteem (CSE) on compulsive buying tendencies. It is argued that this influence is mediated by the self‐presentational concerns of fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and the importance of social identity (SI). These core propositions are tested using a multimethod approach that includes a survey of 402 US adults and two experiments with 160 and 243 subjects, respectively. Survey results find that CSE's impact on compulsive buying is fully mediated by FNE and SI. The two experiments deepen understanding of this effect. Only under high levels of anxiety do those high in CSE exhibit compulsive buying. High CSE leads to higher FNE and SI regardless of anxiety levels, but only at high anxiety levels do FNE and SI lead to compulsive buying. The study's results increase understanding of the role and process by which CSE impacts compulsive buying in adults of all ages.

The importance of social identities

Barely a week goes by without news of another data breach hitting the headlines. For example, recent reports show that local authorities saw 1,035 data losses or thefts between July 2008 and July 2011 in the UK alone. Of course, it is not just the public sector that suffers. The disturbing rash of data breaches in recent years has demonstrated that data security (always of great concern to CTOs and CFOs) affects every company and its customers. Entertainment sites, clothing retailers, grocers and financial services institutions are only the latest and most obvious organisations to have had IT systems compromised.

Intergroup communication between hospital doctors: Implications for quality of patient care

Hospitals involve a complex socio-technical health system, where communication failures influence the quality of patient care. Research indicates the importance of social identity and intergroup relationships articulated through power, control, status and competition. This study focused on interspecialty communication among doctors for patients requiring the involvement of multiple specialist departments. The paper reports on an interview study in Australia, framed by social identity and communication accommodation theories of doctors' experiences of managing such patients, to explore the impact of communication. Interviews were undertaken with 45 doctors working in a large metropolitan hospital, and were analysed using Leximancer (text mining software) and interpretation of major themes. Findings indicated that intergroup conflict is a central influence on communication. Contested responsibilities emerged from a model of care driven by single-specialty ownership of the patient, with doctors allowed to evade responsibility for patients over whom they had no sense of ownership. Counter-accommodative communication, particularly involving interpersonal control, appeared as important for reinforcing social identity and winning conflicts. Strategies to resolve intergroup conflict must address structural issues generating an intergroup climate and evoke interpersonal salience to moderate their effect.