Construction Of Social Identity Research Articles

Presidential Discourses on Regionalism in Azerbaijan: Turkic Solidarity and the Silk Road

Abstract Drawing on theories of comparative regionalism, this article examines the construction of regionalist frames in Azerbaijan covering the period from 1993 to mid-2023. By examining more than 60 text passages from presidential speeches and statements, the study identifies two framings of regionalism that have dominated presidential discourses in Azerbaijan: the discourse of Turkic solidarity or unity (in the political-security domain) and the narrative of an East-West corridor or the revival of the Silk Road for transport of cargo and hydrocarbon resources (in the economic domain). By constructing these discursive frames, Azerbaijani state leaders crafted an alternative regional order reconstituting the geographic category of “South Caucasus” into a new, spatially broader area. In this formulation, “South Caucasus” is viewed as a central pillar of the Silk Road, and Azerbaijan as one of its focal points or nodes. While the study underscores a key role that actors and ideas play in the formation of regions and regional institutions, it also highlights how social construction of regional identities is embedded in and shaped by historical experiences and country-specific political-economic conditions such as historical memories, experiences of war, collective identities and cultural affinities, geographic location, domestic political economic structures, and international linkages.

Understanding the Relationship Between Social Identity and Self-Expression Through Animated Gifs on Social Media

GIFs afford a high degree of personalization, as they are often created from popular movie and video clips with diverse and realistic characters, each expressing a nuanced emotional state through a combination of characters' own unique bodily gestures and distinctive visual backgrounds. These properties of high personalization and embodiment provide a unique window for exploring how individuals represent and express themselves on social media through the lens of the GIFs they use. In this study, we explore how Twitter users express their gender and racial identities through characters in GIFs. We conducted a behavioral study (n=398) to simulate a series of tweeting and GIF-picking scenarios. We annotated the gender and race identities of GIF characters, and we found that gender and race identities have significant impacts on users' GIF choices: men chose more gender-matching GIFs than women, and White participants chose more race-matching GIFs than Black participants. We also found that users' prior familiarity with the source of a GIF and perceptions about the composition of the audience (viz., having a matching identity) have significant effects on whether a user will choose race- and gender-matching GIFs. This work has implications for practitioners supporting personalized social identity construction and impression management mechanisms online.

Dis‐playing gender: From ludic reconfiguration to utopic outcomes in gender‐swap apps

AbstractAn increasing number of AI‐based gender‐swap applications have become a popular trend in our social media platforms and communities, rising controversial issues beyond their apparently playful intent. The primary ludic function informing the use/consumption of such apps opens to further signification and valorization of the produced images. In many cases, the portrait pictures, modified through a system of filters, assume an existential and utopic value for (transgender and nonbinary) users who have the possibility to reimagining and reperforming their gender identity. At the same time, the social availability and disposability of such images risk to trivialize the subjective and highly complex process of sexual and gender transition undergone by many people on their own material body in real life. The aim of this paper is to point out the ambivalences and the possibilities opened by gender‐swap apps for what concerns the issue of gender identity. Through the analysis of a corpus of promotional messages and users' responses to the gender‐swap apps, it is argued that these trans‐faces, far from operating a flawless passing from a gender to the other, constantly dis‐play the social construction and deconstruction of sexual and gender binary identities.

The Structures of Dialect as the Founding Element of Social Identity: The Case of Bursa City

Identity is a concept that consists of many concrete and abstract elements, both individually and socially. Individuals form groups emotionally and consciously within the framework of this concept and build different social identities. Social identity brings individuals together within their groups around similarities and differences, completing it as an integral part of their own self. Social identity constructs individuals and groups in societies by representing them with many character traits and self-creation motivation. Language is one of the most important characteristics in self-motivation and representation in the social identities of individuals and groups. Spoken language and its varieties (dialects) shape the identity of the individual throughout their life from birth and help them to reveal their subjectivity within the framework of a separate social group identity. Spoken language and its varieties (accent/idiom/dialect) shape the identity of the individual throughout their life and help them to reveal their subjectivity within the framework of social group identity. The subject of this study is the status of the dialect element as one of these preserved features constituting and developing the social identity of the individual in the city of Bursa. Data were collected through field research, using the qualitative analysis method. As the structure of dialects is most intensively observed in villages, the sample consisted of people selected only from the villages of Bursa city, mountain villages in particular. The people chosen in terms of representation ability were individuals with different characteristics pertaining to education, age, and occupational groups. The linguistic features and structure of the dialect used in Bursa are not examined in the study. The aim of the study is to reveal, with the qualitative field study conducted with the source persons, that the social identity approach is one of the representations that builds the individual and society.

The bilingual styles of young Puerto Rican adolescents online

Abstract This article examines the language mixing practices of Puerto Rican adolescents in various social media platforms through a framework of code-mixing and socioindexicality. Over a twelve-week period, I collected samples of online text messages from six island bilinguals of an elite community of practice (CofP) and studied the way their unique socializations in private schools and bilingual universities contributed to the ways they made sense of languages, their social meaning potentials, and uses across online interactions. Against the meaningful backdrop of colonial-dynamics of Spanish and English in Puerto Rico, the paper examines how ideologies of “nationalism” and “race” get reproduced or challenged through bilingual practice, and English takes up an equally important role for the construction of social identities in the interactions of youth. Additionally, the study discusses bilingual styles that have been enregistered as social styles specific to technological mediums of communication and youth registers, Puerto Rican netspeak, as well as emerging social styles that indicate queer gender identity, or non-binary practices. In this sense, I offer a description of the island bilingual that is dynamic, strategic, and metapragmatically conscious of the purist ideologies of Spanish in Puerto Rico, as well as the indexical potentials of appropriating variable gender forms in Spanish, bilingual language practices, and netspeak registers towards the negotiation of identities in technological interaction. The way bilinguals relate to the languages at their disposal can provide a window to impending questions on the perceived coloniality of English, potential changes in language ideologies and uses, and whether and how language policies may shift to meet current demographic attitudes and language uses of contemporary Puerto Ricans.

The role of socialization agents in sociovirtualization: Bridging the gap between virtual and real-world interactions

The article describes socialization agents as important factors that impact an individual's social growth and interactions in order to properly understand the dynamics of sociovirtualization. These agents serve as sources of guidance, norms, and socialization chances, all of which contribute considerably to the construction of an individual's social identity. These socialization agents are critical in aiding socialization in virtual settings and negotiating the intricacies of virtual interactions in the field of sociovirtualization.

Impact of social comparison and peer pressure on iphone consumer happiness and innovativeness

In the era of rapid technological advancement, the conventional use of smartphones has undergone a transformative paradigm shift. The presence of Apple's iPhone has become a significant entity surpassing mere communication functions. This research explores the dynamics linking social comparison, peer pressure, consumer innovativeness, and user satisfaction in the context of iPhone usage. Engaging 319 iPhone users in Indonesia through a comprehensive online survey, data was collected, and 150 respondents met the specified criteria. The study employs Partial Least Squares analysis using the SmartPLS4 software. Empirical findings reveal a positive correlation between social comparison and peer pressure, exerting a substantial influence on consumer innovativeness. Interestingly, social comparison also has a positive impact on consumer happiness. However, the research finds that while peer pressure significantly contributes to consumer innovativeness, it does not affect consumer happiness. This investigation underscores the crucial role of social comparison and peer pressure in shaping consumer innovativeness and happiness. The study elucidates the complex interaction between psychological and social factors. By understanding the desire to differentiate oneself and seek social acceptance, this research enhances our understanding of consumer decision-making in iPhone usage, facilitating diverse perspectives on technology as a crucial element in social identity construction.

Body Modification on Viking Age Gotland

In recent years, research has provided evidence for permanent body modification in the Viking Age. Based on the current state of research, we identified around 130 male-gendered individuals from Scandinavia and beyond with dental alterations in form of horizontal furrows, most of them stemming from the Baltic isle of Gotland. We suggest that this custom was used as a sign of identification for a closed group of merchants. In contrast, artificial cranial modifications in the Viking Are so far are only known from three female individuals from Gotland. While both forms of body modification have received wide attention in other cultural contexts, the specific expressions of these customs in Viking Age society still lack systematic investigation with regard to their social implications. Based on the archaeological concept of embodiment and modern communication theories we discuss the perception of modified human bodies as media for the presentation and construction of social identities on Viking Age Gotland.

Construction of a corporate social responsibility identity within enterprises that distribute agricultural products in Hubei Province, China

Construction of a corporate social responsibility identity within enterprises that distribute agricultural products in Hubei Province, China

Aesthetics and Semiotics of Communication in Visual Language: A Multimodal Criticism on the Short Film of Ismail

This conceptual paper aims to present a multimodal critique of the visual language in the short film Ismail. It analyses the social semiotics represented in the film's composition of image and language, which portrays a day story from the Palestinian visual artist Ismail Shammout (1930-2006) in the diaspora. From an aesthetic perspective, the research focuses on the social construction of an artist's identity through visual language. Such film transforms the artist's narrative into a communicational oeuvre in Arabic to represent an individual description of the Palestinian diaspora, which constructed one of the prominent grand narratives in the modern history of Arab Art. The main character in the film is Ismail, a Palestinian painter who performs his daily job as a candy seller in the streets. The argumentation in this critique depends on the aesthetic manifestations of the social semiotics of Arab Art in the film. Throughout the film's visual language, Ismail keeps representing his thoughts about the characteristics of Arab Art. He is a travelling aesthetician who walks through the desert and sells candy to strangers while talking to a younger kid escorting him through the film. The research's problem corresponds to the need for more investigation into language study, which this research advances to render. The methodology dedicated the aesthetic critique to produce aesthetic research on the film's visual language. Introducing an aesthetic review of visual language and connecting it with sociopolitical semiotics is significant. This research raises awareness of the importance of visual language knowledge in education systems.

Men as Advocates for Women in Leadership

Despite improvements in gender equity within higher education nationally, underrepresentation in women’s leadership persists in Christian higher education. As women in leadership navigate the context of member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), characteristics of evangelical culture (e.g., theological views of gender, traditional gender role expectations) may at times impede these relationships across gender; however, some evidence has suggested that women who attained a presidency within a CCCU institution have identified male advocates to be influential in their leadership journeys. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of men who had been identified by women presidents of CCCU institutions as having been advocates in their leadership identity development and journeys. This article explored the findings of a hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of data from interviews with 14 male participants nominated by women presidents of CCCU institutions across North America. The findings of this study centered on three themes: (a) the pursuit of theological congruence, (b) gender blind, the double bind, and being first, and (c) pragmatism and persuasion. Based on these findings, the interdependence of organizational culture, self-awareness, and the social construction of a leadership identity through reciprocal relationships was discussed. Implications for practice include recommendations for evaluating institutional contexts and personal biases, as well as cultivating reciprocal relationships between women and men.

Social Identity Construction: Experiences of Teenage Students with Physical Disabilities in Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Social Identity Construction

Social identity is considered a dynamic and life-changing process. Individuals with physical disabilities learn and adapt to their environment. Their experiences help them cope with disability and in the development of their social identity. This research has been pursued with qualitative research design, and its underpinning lies in epistemological constructivism, where individuals give specific meaning to their experiences to understand social reality. Two theories have been used in the theoretical framework of this research: social identity theory and the looking-glass-self theory. This research strived to understand the phenomenon of social identity and how it affected individuals with physical disabilities in their lives.20 participants between the ages of 12 to 18 years were interviewed. The rationale for selecting this specific group was to understand the concept of self at the initial stages as it would grow as they grow up. This study was conducted at the Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PSRD) in Lahore. The data was collected through in-depth interviews which were recorded and transcribed to gain insights. Three themes emerged from the interviews: experiences and views regarding one’s social identity, the role and influence of educational institutions and the environment of said institutions, and the role and influence of vocational skills in identity construction. The results of this research showed that the role of educational institutions, the environment of institutions, and the vocational training of the individuals played a substantial role in shaping their social identity. Respondents described how their self-actualization experiences, educational institutions, and vocational training helped them to construct identity.

Discrimination and social identity processes predict impairment and dysfunction among heavy drinkers

BackgroundPrevious research has linked discrimination to poorer health. Yet health risk behaviours such as heavy alcohol consumption are often targeted with stigmatising public health campaigns. The current study sought to establish the link between experiencing discrimination and health outcomes among heavy drinkers, with a focus on exploring the multiple social identity processes that might underpin this relationship. MethodsA survey was conducted with 282 people who self-reported consuming alcohol above recommended guidelines. We measured discrimination experienced as a drinker, components of social identification as a drinker (centrality, satisfaction, solidarity, homogeneity, and self-stereotyping), and two health outcomes: psychological distress and severity of alcohol use disorder symptomatology. ResultsDiscrimination was a moderate-large predictor of psychological distress and alcohol use disorder symptoms. Three social identity constructs were implicated in the link between discrimination and ill-health: identity centrality and homogeneity positively mediated this relationship while identity satisfaction was a negative mediator. The model explained a large proportion of the variance (39–47%) in health outcomes. DiscussionResults are interpreted with an emphasis on the need to avoid stigmatising messaging and to prioritise social identity processes to prevent and treat substance use disorders. We further highlight the need for social identity researchers to consider the multidimensional nature of social identities, especially in the context of stigmatised groups.

Conceptual and Symbolic Perception of the Homeland Concept by Russians

The article analyzes the ideas of Russians about the Homeland and the conceptual and symbolic associations. This topic is mainly studied within the framework of the analysis of the concept of ‘small motherland’, the development of a program for patriotic education of young people and strengthening the civil identity of Russians. The research methodology is based on the use of secondary data from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, as well as some results of the study of the state of civil identity in the Republic of Bashkortostan within the framework of the projects “Peculiarities of the formation of civil identity of Russians in a multiethnic region (on the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan)” in 2016 (sample size 1000 people) and “Communicative mechanisms of social construction of civil identity of Russians” in 2019 (sample size 751 people). Some trends in the interpretation of the Homeland concept have been recorded. Russians tend to define their homeland through the place where they were born, where their father’s house is located. It is especially characteristic for respondents of the older group to identify this concept with a small homeland, while young people and residents of megacities demonstrate more cosmopolitan attitudes. A certain proportion of respondents associate the concept of homeland with personal well-being. The symbolic perception of the homeland largely coincides with the residents of the Russian Federation: politicians and classic writers are most often heard as personalities associated with Russia. The conceptual and symbolic representation of the homeland is one of the aspects in the study of civil identity, the construction of which is primarily aimed at the formation of a behavioral component in its structure. The proposed results can be used in the educational process and by the authorities in the development of management decisions.

Educationalists in 1950s, 1960s Hungary: Identity and Profession through Retrospective Life (Hi)Stories

This paper is based on the lost and found sources from the former Hungarian National Pedagogic Institute (OPI) and the National Educational Institute (OKI): due to the generosity of Professor Gábor Halász we can save valuable archives from disappearance. I found several life-story interviews in the corpus by different Hungarian educationalists, which were recorded in 1984 and 1985. These documents gives a unique opportunity to describe typical career patterns, how a teacher could become a head of a department in the Ministry or held other key positions on the highest level of educational administration in the post-war, communist Hungary. The semi-structured interviews focused on personal transitions and turns, connected with the historical time and political changes, including different socio-historical contexts and dimensions, like the recalled decades of 1950s and 1960, the interviewing period of the late socialism, and finally, the retrospection of the questioners. The biographic nature of the communist political system is a specific characteristics in my analysis: to get a position (like an editor in chief, a school inspector of different districts in Budapest, or a head of a department in the Cultural Ministry) it was required to constantly write and rewrite autobiographies; construct social and professional identities again and again, proved loyalty to the Party. The contemporary reader from 2023 can evaluate the sources as narrations: in the beginning crisis of the system in the 1980’s, the interviewees told their lives with the intention to form the memory, create legitimation and meanings for their past activities and life-stories.

Polarising metaphors in the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis

Abstract The 23rd of January 2019 marked the beginning of the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis, a unique socio-political conflict that confronted Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, to the self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaidó. This paper explores the divisive power of conceptual metaphors in this context through the analysis of polarising metaphors, namely, metaphors that conceptualise ‘Us’ positively and/or ‘Them’ negatively. More specifically, from a corpus-based critical socio-cognitive perspective (Musolff 2016; Soares da Silva 2020; Charteris-Black 2011), this study looks at the main polarising metaphors of Maduro and Guaidó’s political discourses and examines their role in the discursive construction of ideological polarisation, social identities, and legitimacy using a target-based approach (Stefanowitsch and Gries 2006). The results show that both leaders strategically use polarising metaphors, especially those of CONFRONTATION, HUMAN BEING and JOURNEY, to reproduce their ideologies, reinforce their social identities, and legitimise their political positions.

From the Perspective of Symbolic Interactionism -Understanding Reciprocal Relationships in Car Boot Markets

This research study explores the emergence and development of reciprocal relationships within the car boot market in Guangzhou. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of Symbolic Interactionism, the motivation behind these relationships is examined. The study uses field research, including in-depth interviews and observations, to gather data on the motivations, interactions, and reciprocal exchanges among market participants. The research objectives include understanding the background and characteristics of the car boot market, exploring the establishment of reciprocal relationships from the perspective of Symbolic Interactionism, and investigating the implications of these relationships for social identities. The research methodology encompasses qualitative methods, such as participant observation and interviews, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the car boot market and its reciprocal dynamics. The research findings indicate that in the car boot market, reciprocal relationships are formed through the exchange of symbols and meaningful interactions among vendors and customers. These relationships contribute to the construction of social identities and foster economic development within the market. Through direct and indirect reciprocity, vendors build networks and expand their social identities beyond their existing relationships. The conclusions drawn from this study underscore the significance of interactional behaviors and symbolic exchanges in the car boot market. The research highlights the applicability of Symbolic Interactionism in analyzing and understanding the nuanced dynamics of reciprocal relationships within informal economies. It offers valuable insights for the development and management of the car boot market and recommends strategies for fostering and sustaining reciprocal relationships.

Acting as a Mental Health Expert by Experience and Its Impact on Social Identity

This study was conducted to examine the construction of social identity among mental health experts by experience working in Finnish municipal mental healthcare services. The construction of social identity is approached as an ongoing lifelong process that is significantly affected by lived experiences with mental health problems and recovery from them. The research data consist of focus group discussions, and the analysis is based on a thematic design that is initially material-driven. As a result, four categories are formed to describe the effect of acting as an expert by experience on social identity and the importance of the issue. Experts by experience have to consider profound questions about their identity and future in their new life situation. The individual meanings of acting as an expert by experience are considered particularly important. The support provided by group members builds confidence in one’s chances of success and thereby supports the development of social identity. Social identities of experts by experience are partially built in encounters with professionals representing the mental health care system. This creates opportunities for new roles for those who act as experts by experience.

Spatial and linguistic mobility in the narrative of a transnational speaker between Peru and Italy

The aim of this paper is to explore the language-space relationship by analysing the way Latin American transnational speakers experience mobility processes and the way these shape their linguistic practices and identities. Namely, the focal point of this study is the way spatial and sociolinguistic bordering are constructed and conceived by analysing the narrative of a transnational woman who experienced back and forth migration between Peru and Italy with her family. I will analyse this aspect from a theoretical point of view in the first part of the paper, where I will refer to that part of the literature that, while studying the relationship between language and migration, addresses questions about how language ideologies, the centre-periphery dynamics, as well as the material conditions of diaspora influence language practices and the construction of social identity in contemporary societies. I will then explore these epistemological aspects through the voice of a Peruvian transnational woman relating the social and sociolinguistic cross-bordering she experienced with her family through her spatial mobility.

The lab, land, and longing: Discursive constructions of Australian identities in ‘future’ food consumption

Food consumption is being reconfigured as a consequence of consumers’ ethical concerns. While preferences and tastes may be influenced by broad ethical positions, constructions of social identity also reflect shifts in food consumption. Important tools within this nexus are ‘future foods’, produced through novel technologies such as artificial intelligence or genetic editing, supporting consumers in the construction of identity markers. Through 24 ( n = 121) focus groups in rural and urban Australia, we explore to what extent future foods contribute to alleviate tensions between broader ethical principles and consumer identities. We argue that the collective discourse around future foods has the potential to shift the culture of food ethics in the future, enabled through three moral identity markers. Specifically, identities of citizen-consumption that view ethics as ‘eating for change’; nationalism as a form of patriotic morality that encourages the consumption of national brands and protectionism; and nostalgic knowledge and historical identities of the past to reconfigure ethical ideals for the future. These discursive identity constructions shed light on how consumers may redefine food ethics in the future, legitimising citizenship through demonstrating virtue, patriotism as loyalty to social groups, and nostalgic capturing of history to ‘ethicise’ the future.