Article published In:
Studying Identity: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges[Journal of Language and Politics 2:2] 2003
► pp. 225–241
[Journal of Language and Politics 2:2] 2003
► pp. 225–241
Studying identity in social psychology
Some thoughts on the definition of identity and its relation to action
The present paper discusses the concept of identity in social psychology. It is suggested that identity is a particular form of social representation that mediates the relationship between the individual and the social world. Identity makes the link between social regulations and psychological organizations (i.e. identifications/self-categories) and constitutes the organizing principle of symbolic relationships. Its functions are to inscribe the person in the social environment, to communicate peoples’ positions and to establish relationships with others (social recognition). Thus identity is a cyclical process constituted by three actions: knowing, claiming and recognizing. Social psychologists have started their investigations of identity by emphasizing different aspects of this process: self-knowledge, claims and recognition and have focused on processes of socialization, communication and social influence.
Finally, it is argued that through their active participation in the social world (by knowing, recognizing and claiming), individuals construct a set of knowledge about the world and themselves: their identity. To protect from, provoke or respond to changes to this knowledge people act in the name of identity. Thus, identity constitutes the social psychological context within which worldviews are constructed, through which these worldviews are communicated and for which battles are fought.
References (61)
Ashmore, R. D. and Jussim, L. 1997. Self and Identity. Fundamental Issues. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Branscombe, N. R. and Ellemers, N. 1998. Coping with group-based discrimination: individualistic versus group level strategies. In: J. K. Swim and C. Stangor (eds). Prejudice. The Target’s perspective. San Diego: Academic Press. 
Breakwell, G. M. 1983. Threatened Identities. Chichester: Wiley.
1986. Coping with Threatened Identities. London and New York: Methuen.
1988. Strategies Adopted when Identity is Threatened. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale 11, 189–204.
2001. Social Representational constraints upon Identity Processes. In: K. Deaux and G. Philogene (eds). Representations of the Social. Oxford: Blackwell, 271–284.
Brewer, M. B. 1991. The Social Self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 171, 475–482.
Brown, R. 2000. Social Identity Theory: past achievements, current problems and future challenges. European Journal of Social Psychology 301, 745–778.
Burr, V. 1995. An Introduction to Social Constructionism. London: Routledge.
Campbell, D. T. 1958. Common fate, similarity and other indices of the status of aggregates of persons as social entities. Behavioral Science 31, 14–25.
Chryssochoou, X. 2000a. Memberships in a superordinate level. Re-thinking European Union as a multi-national society. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 101, 403–420.
2000b. How Superordinate identity is formed? The Case of the European. The European Psychologist 51, 269–277.
2002. The relationship between the individual and the social. Discussing the concept of identity in social psychology. Manuscript submitted for publication.
de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., and Wodak, R. 1999. The discursive construction of national identities. Discourse and Society 101, 149–173.
Deaux, K. 1992. Personalizing Identity and Socializing the Self. In: G. M. Breakwell (ed.). Social Psychology of Identity and the Self Concept. Surrey: Surrey University Press, 9–34.
Doise, W. 1990. Les représentations sociales. In: R. Guiglione, C. Bonnet, and J. F. Richard (eds). Traité de Psychologie Cognitive 3. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Durkheim, E. 1898. Représentations individuelles et representations collectives. Revue de Métaphysique et Morale 61, 273–302.
Duveen, G. 2001. Representations, Identity, Resistence. In: K. Deaux and G. Philogene (eds). Representations of the social. Oxford: Blackwell, 257–270.
Ellemers, N., Spears, R., and Doosje, B. 1999. Social Identity. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ellemers, N. 1993. The influence of socio-structural variables on identity enhancement strategies. European Review of Social Psychology 41, 27–57.
Harré, R. 1987. The social constructions of Selves. In: K. Yardley and T. Honess (eds). Self and Identity: psychosocial perspectives. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 41–52.
1998. The singular self. An introduction to the psyhology of personhood. London: Sage.
Hogg, M.A. and Abrams, D. 1993. Group Motivation: Social Psychological Perspectives. Hemel Hampstead and New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf and Prentice Hall.
Lind, E.A. and Tyler, T.R. 1988. The social psychology of procedural justice. New York: Plenum.
Lloyd, B. and Duveen, G. 1990. A semiotic analysis of social representations of gender. In: G. Duveen and B. Lloyd (eds). Social Representations and the development of knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1992. Gender Identities and Education. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Lorenzi-Cioldi, F. and Doise, W. 1994. Identité sociale et identité personelle. In: R. Y. Bourhis and J.-P. Leyens (eds). Stéreotypes, discrimination et relations intergroupes. Liège: Mardaga, 69–96.
Lorenzi-Cioldi, F. 1995. The Self in Collection and Aggregate groups. In: R. Lubeck, G. Van Hezewijk, G. Petherson, and C. W. Tolman (eds). Trends and Issues in Theoretical Psychology. New York: Springer.
Lorenzi-Cioldi, F. and Clemence, A. 2001. Group processes and the construction of social representations. In: M. A. Hogg and R. S. Tindale (eds). Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology, (group processes). Oxford: Blackwell, 311–333.
Maguire, S., Phillips, N., and Hardy, C. 2001. When ‘Silence=Death’, Keep Talking: Trust, Control and the Discursive Construction of Identity in the Canadian HIV/AIDS treatment domain. Organization Studies 221, 285–310.
Markovà, I. and Foppa, K. 1990. The Dynamics of Dialogue. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Markovà, I., Graumann, C. F., and Foppa, K. 1995. Mutualities in dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Markovà, I. 2000. Amédée or How to get Rid of It: Social Representations from a dialogical perspective. Culture and Psychology 61, 419–460.
Markus, H. R., Mullally, P. R., and Kitayama, S. 1997. Selfways: Diversity in modes of cultural participation. In: U. Neisser and D. A. Jopling (eds). The conceptual self in context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 13–61.
Mead, G. H. 1934. Mind, Self and Society. Chicago IL: Chicago University Press.
Moscovici, S. 1961/1976 2nd edition. La Psychanalyse son Image et son Public. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
1984. The Phenomenon of Social Representations. In: R. Farr and S. Moscovici (eds). Social Representations. Paris/Cambridge: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and Cambridge University Press, 3–69.
1998. The history and actuality of Social Representations. In: U. Flick (ed.). The Psychology of the Social. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 209–247.
2001. Why a theory of social representations? In: K. Deaux and G. Philogene (eds). The representations of the social. Oxford: Blackwell, 8–35.
Neisser, U. and Jopling, D. A. 1997. The Conceptual Self in Context. Culture, experience, selfunderstanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oyserman, D. and Markus, H. R. 1998. Self as a Social Representation. In: U. Flick (ed.). The psychology of the social. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reicher, S. and Hopkins, N. 1996a. Seeking Influence through characterising self-categories/an analysis of anti-abortionist rhetoric. British Journal of Social Psychology 351, 297–311.
1996b. Self-Category constructions in political rhetoric: An analysis of Thatcher’s and Kinnock’s speeches concerning the British Miners’ strike (1984–1985). European Journal of Social Psychology 261, 353–372.
2001. Self and Nation. London: Sage.
Sedikides, C. and Brewer, M. B. 2001. Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self. Hove: Psychology Press.
Sherif, M. 1966. In Common Predicament: Social Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Smith, C. and Lloyd, B. 1978. Maternal behavior and perceived sex of the infant: revisited. Child Development 491, 1265.
Stryker, S. 1980. Symbolic Interactionism: A social structural approach. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.
1992. Identity Theory. In: E. F. Borgatta and M. L. Borgatta (eds). Encyclopedia of Sociology vol 2. New York: Macmillan, 871–876.
Stryker, S. and Burke, P. J. 2000. The past, present and future of an Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quaterly 631, 284–297.
Tajfel, H. 1974. Social Identity and Intergroup behaviour. Social Science Information 131, 65–93.
1981. Human Groups and Social Categories: studies in social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1982. Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Annual Review of Psychology 331, 1–39.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C. 1986. The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In: S. Worschel (ed.). Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Chicago: Nelson Hall.
Taylor, D. M. and McKirnan, D. J. 1984. A five-stage model of intergroup relations. British Journal of Social Psychology 231, 291–300.
Törrönen, J. 2001. The Concept of Subject Position in Empirical Social Research. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 311, 313–329.
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S., and Wetherell, M. S. 1987. Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorisation Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Turner, J. C. and Onorato, R. S. 1999. Social Identity, Personality, and the Self-Concept: a selfcategorisation perspective. In: T. R. Tyler, R. M. Kramer, and O. P. John (eds). The Psychology of the Social Self. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 11–46.
Wetherell, M. and Maybin, J. 1996. The distributed self: a social constructionist perspective. In: R. Stevens (ed.). Understanding the Self. London: Sage/Open University.
Wetherell, M. 1998. Positioning and interpretative repertoires: conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue. Discourse and Society 91, 387–412.
Zavalloni, M. and Louis-Guerrin, C. 1984. Identité sociale et conscience. Toulouse, Montréal: Privat.
Cited by (40)
Cited by 40 other publications
Kislev, Elyakim
2024. Singlehood as an identity. European Review of Social Psychology 35:2 ► pp. 258 ff. 
Briffett Aktaş, Carla, Koon Lin Wong, Wing Fun Oliver Kong & Choi Pat Ho
2023. The student voice for social justice pedagogical method. Teaching in Higher Education ► pp. 1 ff.
Heier, Sally
2023. The Bosnian Diaspora: Homeland Belongings and Categories. In Konzepte der NATION im europäischen Kontext im 21. Jahrhundert [Linguistik in Empirie und Theorie/Empirical and Theoretical Linguistics, ], ► pp. 67 ff.
İNGEÇ, Ali Kerem
2023. Kurum Kimliği Üzerine. İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi :61 ► pp. 153 ff.
Kislev, Elyakim & Kris Marsh
2023. Intersectionality in studying and theorizing singlehood. Journal of Family Theory & Review 15:3 ► pp. 412 ff.
Politi, Emanuele, Oriane Sarrasin & Christian Staerklé
2023. Citizenship deservingness justifies exclusive national boundary making: A socio‐dynamic mixed‐methods approach to social representations of citizenship. British Journal of Social Psychology 62:1 ► pp. 84 ff.
Prost, Maxime, Anthony Piermattéo & Grégory Lo Monaco
2023. Social Representations, Social Identity, and Representational Imputation. European Psychologist 28:1 ► pp. 24 ff.
Reddy, Geetha & Amena Amer
2023. Precarious engagements and the politics of knowledge production: Listening to calls for reorienting hegemonic social psychology. British Journal of Social Psychology 62:S1 ► pp. 71 ff.
Bancroft, Senetta F.
2022. Through Theory and Action: Finding Academic Identity and Ontological Security as Faculty of Color in Science Education. Journal of Science Teacher Education 33:2 ► pp. 170 ff.
de Rosa, Annamaria Silvana, Elena Bocci & Martina Latini
2022. Bridges or walls? A metaphorical dichotomy of Pope Francis versus Donald Trump’s views of transnational migration. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community 50:3 ► pp. 317 ff.
Idrissi, Hajar, Salma Takky & Hind Idrissi
2022. Citizenship Attitudes and Social Inequality Among Moroccan University Students. African Studies 81:2 ► pp. 188 ff.
YILDIZ, Nazan
2022. Sürgündeki Anglo-Sakson Kadını ve Kimliği: Kadının Ağıtı ve Wulf ve Eadwacer. Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 12:23 ► pp. 35 ff.
Zhang, Shan, Weifang Liu, Wei Han, Jiaming Xie & Mengbo Sun
2022. Influence mechanism of tourists' impulsive behavior in E-sports tourism: Mediating role of arousal. Tourism Management Perspectives 44 ► pp. 101032 ff.
Waddell, Terrie
2021. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVITY, IDENTITY, PLACE, AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE: THE RENAISSANCE OF CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES. Creativity Studies 14:1 ► pp. 175 ff.
Chalupa, Radek & Karel Nesměrák
2020. Chemophobia versus the identity of chemists: heroes of chemistry as an effective communication strategy. Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly 151:8 ► pp. 1193 ff.
Champ, Francesca M., Mark S. Nesti, Noora J. Ronkainen, David A. Tod & Martin A. Littlewood
2020. An Exploration of the Experiences of Elite Youth Footballers: The Impact of Organizational Culture. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 32:2 ► pp. 146 ff.
Fracchiolla, Claudia, Brean Prefontaine & Kathleen Hinko
2020. Community of practice approach for understanding identity development within informal physics programs. Physical Review Physics Education Research 16:2
Reddy, Geetha & Rob M. van Dam
2020. Food, culture, and identity in multicultural societies: Insights from Singapore. Appetite 149 ► pp. 104633 ff.
Andreouli, Eleni
2019. Constructions of Europe in the run-up to the EU referendum in the UK. Identities 26:2 ► pp. 241 ff.
Dunleavy, Gráinne & Jolanta Burke
2019. Fostering a sense of belonging at an international school in France: An experimental study. Educational and Child Psychology 36:4 ► pp. 34 ff.
Fernández, Antoni Santisteban & Neus González-Monfort
2019. Education for Citizenship and Identities. In Handbook of Research on Education for Participative Citizenship and Global Prosperity [Advances in Educational Marketing, Administration, and Leadership, ], ► pp. 551 ff.
Fernández, Antoni Santisteban & Neus González-Monfort
2020. Education for Citizenship and Identities. In Research Anthology on Instilling Social Justice in the Classroom, ► pp. 77 ff.
Matsopoulos, Anastassios, Artemis-Margarita Griva, Polivios Psinas & Irene Monasterioti
2019. Teachers’ Perceptions of Teacher Evaluation, Professional Identities and Educational Institutions: An Analysis Based on the Symbolic Universes Approach. In Symbolic Universes in Time of (Post)Crisis [Culture in Policy Making: The Symbolic Universes of Social Action, ], ► pp. 191 ff.
ARICI, Ali & Özgür KILINÇ
2018. İkna Teorileri Çerçevesinde Yapı Reklamlarının Analizi. Erciyes İletişim Dergisi 5:4 ► pp. 535 ff.
Brunsdon, Alfred R.
2017. #MisconstruedIdentitiesMustFall collective: Identity formation in the current South African context: A practical theological perspective. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 73:2
Knoetze, Johannes J.
2017. Who are the disciples? Identity perceptions about millennials and the church. Verbum et Ecclesia 38:1
Knoetze, Johannes J.
2021. African youth, African faith(s), African environment and sustainable development: A missional diaconal calling. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 77:2
Zhang, Lei
2017. The soft power of a First Lady—Constructing identities for First Ladies in the Chinese and American media. Discourse, Context & Media 20 ► pp. 33 ff.
Jaspal, Rusi, Brigitte Nerlich & Kitty van Vuuren
2016. Embracing and resisting climate identities in the Australian press: Sceptics, scientists and politics. Public Understanding of Science 25:7 ► pp. 807 ff.
Sant, Edda, Ian Davies & Antoni Santisteban
2016. Citizenship and Identity: The Self-Image of Secondary School Students in England and Catalonia. British Journal of Educational Studies 64:2 ► pp. 235 ff.
Chryssochoou, Xenia
2014. Identity processes in culturally diverse societies: how is cultural diversity reflected in the self?. In Identity Process Theory, ► pp. 135 ff.
Motti-Stefanidi, Frosso, John Berry, Xenia Chryssochoou, David Lackland Sam & Jean Phinney
2012. Positive Immigrant Youth Adaptation in Context. In Realizing the Potential of Immigrant Youth, ► pp. 117 ff.
Chryssochoou, Xenia & Evanthia Lyons
2010. Perceptions of (In)Compatibility between Identities and Participation in the National Polity of People belonging to Ethnic Minorities. In Identity and Participation in Culturally Diverse Societies, ► pp. 69 ff.
Antonsich, Marco
2008. The Narration of Europe in `National' and `Post-national' Terms. European Journal of Social Theory 11:4 ► pp. 505 ff.
Antonsich, Marco
2010. Meanings of place and aspects of the Self: an interdisciplinary and empirical account. GeoJournal 75:1 ► pp. 119 ff.
Antonsich, Marco
2012. BRINGING THEDEMOSBACK IN. European Societies 14:4 ► pp. 484 ff.
Cinnirella, Marco & Saira Hamilton
2007. Are all Britons reluctant Europeans? Exploring European identity and attitudes to Europe among British citizens of South Asian ethnicity. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30:3 ► pp. 481 ff.
Levy, René, Paolo Ghisletta, Jean-Marie Le Goff, Dario Spini & Eric Widmer
2005. Incitations for Interdisciplinarity in Life Course Research. Advances in Life Course Research 10 ► pp. 361 ff.
Chryssochoou, Xenia & Chiara Volpato
2004. Social Influence and the Power of Minorities: An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto. Social Justice Research 17:4 ► pp. 357 ff.
[no author supplied]
2012. Bibliographie. In L'identité en psychologie sociale, ► pp. 189 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.