Group Identity, Intergroup Relations, and Political Expression

Many U.S. cities pursue a “human relations” strategy in response to racial and ethnic group conflict. Reflective of Common Ingroup Identity theory, human relations practitioners emphasize a superordinate community identity among residents from different groups for the purpose of “bringing people together” in an effort to improve intergroup relations. Practitioners also encourage intergroup contact to promote positive change in attitudes. Herein, we test the influence of group identity cues and intergroup contact as predictors of perceived intergroup commonality. The findings suggest emphasizing a superordinate community identity increases feelings of commonality in the attitudes of Anglos and Latinos toward one another and toward African-Americans and Asians, while intergroup contact has no significant influence on intergroup attitudes. These findings contribute to the extant literature by simultaneously testing the relative effect of salient group identities on intergroup attitudes and expanding the focus beyond the binary comparison found in most studies of racial–ethnic relations.

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Minority Group Identification and Intergroup Relations: An Examination of Kurt Lewin's Theory of Jewish Group Identity.

Social Forces ◽

10.2307/2575812 ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 139

Author(s):

Irwin D. Rinder ◽

Jack Rothman

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Group Identity ◽

Minority Group ◽

Group Identification

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From Ecological Constraints To Cultural Identities: Pre-Columbian Attitudes toward Food

Humans and the Environment ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199590292.003.0014 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Alexandre Chevalier

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Group Identity ◽

Group Identification ◽

Social Identification ◽

Cultural Groups ◽

Ecological Constraints ◽

Plant Exploitation ◽

Group Identities ◽

Anthropology Of Food

In archaeology, differences of plant remains between contexts, regions or periods are usually interpreted in terms of social inequality (Bender 1978; van der Veen 2003), political power (Hastorf 1993; Quilter and Stocker 1983), territory exploitation (Rosenberg 1990) and, lately, feasting activities (Dietler and Hayden 2001; Duncan et al. 2009; Hastorf 2003), but rarely in terms of group identification, despite the fact that anthropology has highlighted more than once that food expresses one’s identity better than any material culture (Counihan and Kaplan 1998; Fischler 1985; MacClancy 2004; Montanari 2000; Scholliers 2001). In a comparable way to the faunal exploitation strategies discussed by Fiore et al. in the previous chapter, we propose here that plant exploitation strategies relate not only to factors such as optimality or expediency but also to group identity. Based on models drawn from the anthropology of food (Counihan and Van Esterik 1997; Douglas 1971; Fischler 1988; Goody 1982; Lévi-Strauss 1964, 1997; Mead 1997; Mennell et al. 1992; Mintz 1996) and social psychology of intergroup relations (Tajfel and Turner 1979, 1986), as well as on ethnobotanical examples (Pieroni and Price 2006a), we argue that cultural groups produce, select, and eat different food, and therefore exploit different territories, in order to differentiate themselves from other groups and to build strong group identities. In addition to economic rationality, ecological constraints, or technical limitations, social group alimentary choices may also reflect the need to express positive differentiation from an external group and similarity with those from the same group. Appealing to psychological theories of social identification that explain how individuals’ behaviours are affected by their relationships within their groups, we seek to explain how food choices as an expression of group identity may have shaped environments, created long-distance trade, and in some cases led to environmental overexploitation. In this way social identity concepts (Tajfel and Turner 1979, 1986) can help us to understand the link between trade, exotic products, prestige, and identity and the pivotal role plants may have played in the creation of group identity and in defining intergroup relations.

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Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 185-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Emily Moyer-Gusé ◽

Katherine R. Dale ◽

Michelle Ortiz

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Contact Hypothesis ◽

Muslim Americans ◽

Intergroup Anxiety ◽

Intergroup Interactions

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

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Mutuality in Acculturation

Zeitschrift für Psychologie ◽

10.1027/2151-2604/a000150 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 221 (4) ◽

pp. 205-213 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Gabriel Horenczyk ◽

Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti ◽

David L. Sam ◽

Paul Vedder

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Extended Model ◽

Psychological Study ◽

Intergroup Interactions ◽

Mutual Contact ◽

Acculturation Model ◽

Plural Societies ◽

Perceptions And Expectations

This paper focuses on processes and consequences of intergroup interactions in plural societies, focusing primarily on majority-minority mutuality in acculturation orientations. We examine commonalities and differences among conceptualizations and models addressing issues of mutuality. Our review includes the mutual acculturation model ( Berry, 1997 ), the Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM – Bourhis et al., 1997 ), the Concordance Model of Acculturation (CMA – Piontkowski et al., 2002 ); the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM – Navas et al., 2005 ), and the work on acculturation discrepancies conducted by Horenczyk (1996 , 2000 ). We also describe a trend toward convergence of acculturation research and the socio-psychological study of intergroup relations addressing issues of mutuality in attitudes, perceptions, and expectations. Our review has the potential to enrich the conceptual and methodological toolbox needed for understanding and investigating acculturation in complex modern societies, where majorities and minorities, immigrants and nationals, are engaged in continuous mutual contact and interaction, affecting each other’s acculturative choices and acculturative expectations.

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