Social Identity Theory

Social Identity Theory

                “The social identity theory was developed by Tajfel and Turner in 1979; initially to understand the psychological basis of intergroup discrimination. They wanted to identify the minimal conditions that would lead members of one group to discriminate in favor of the ingroup to which they belonged and against another group.”

                Individuals in all cultures make distinctions amount the individuals with whom they interact. An example of this would be people who one interacts with at work.One type of meaningful social relationship that people of all societies make in ingroups and outgroups.

                Ingroup: Characterized by history of shared, also similar, experiences and anticipated future. An example of this would be having a similar connection with someone you work with maybe you are both from the same city or share interest in the same team. An ingroup also produces sense of intimacy, familiarity and trust.

                Cultures differ in formation and structure of self-ingroup and self-outgroup relationships. An example of such would be of a person being in an ingroup and starting to think about what the outgroup is thinking, the ingroup therefore, begins to stereotype about the outgroup.

The meaning of Ingroup/Outgroup Relationships

In Individualistic cultures, people                     

Have more ingroups

Are not attached to any single group

Survival of individual and society more dependent on individual

Make less distinctions between in- and outgroups

In Collectivistic cultures, people

Have fewer ingroups

Are very attached to the ingroups to which they belong

Survival of individual and society more dependent on individual

Make large distinctions between in-and outgroups.

                In reading about Social Identity I found that ingroups and outgroups still exists many times within different cultures and situations. I can see this occurring quite often with different cultures in schools.