Group interaction as the crucible of social identity formation : a glimpse at the foundations of social identities for collective action
Abstract
Many of the world’s biggest problems are being tackled through the formation of new groups yet very little research has directly observed the processes by which new groups form to respond to social problems. The current paper draws on seminal research by Lewin (1947) to advance a perspective as to how such identities form through processes of small group interaction. Multi-level structural equation modelling involving 58 small group discussions (with N = 234) demonstrates that focused group discussion can boost the commitment to take collective action, beliefs in the efficacy of that action and members’ social identification with other supporters of the cause. The results are consistent with the new commitment to action flowing from emergent social identities.
Citation
Thomas , E , McGarty , C & Mavor , K 2016 , ' Group interaction as the crucible of social identity formation : a glimpse at the foundations of social identities for collective action ' , Group Processes and Intergroup Relations , vol. 19 , no. 2 , pp. 137-151 . https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430215612217
Publication
Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1368-4302Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2015 the Authors. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430215612217
Description
This research was supported by the Australian Research Council (DE120101029 to the first author and DP0770731 to the second author).Collections
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