The Identity of Groups

From BluWiki

The role of Identity in politics has often been recognized but there is no consensus as to the importance, strength, and role of identity in politics. An underlying assumption in my thesis project is that identity plays a significant role in political transformations. The role of identity matters both for elite groups as well as oppositional groups (both seen here as strategic actors or groups).

Social Identity in the Colonial-Imperialist Relationship

Social identity is defined as "that part of an individual's self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership in a social group (groups) together with the value and the emotional significance attached to that membership" (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63). Normally members of a group strife for a positive social identity.

"There are instances in which people accept a group's inferior situation, if they believe that their position is just and legitimate. These kinds of patterns were evident historically in the submission to and eventual rejection of colonial domination. People in territories that were conquered by such colonial powers as Britian, France, Germany, and others, often accepted that domination. They perceived the colonial powers through the imperialist image and thus saw them as superior in culture and capability. Resisting that domination would have brought severe punishment, and they often accepted domination as just and legitimate. But, over time, independence movements grew, and political activists in the colonies argued that their subservience was unfair, unjust, and illegitimate. Once that change in perception occured, they began to compare their situations with that of the colonial power and they decided that the colonial power was rich and they were poor, and that difference was unacceptable, particularly because the colonial power took the resources of the colonies and used them to enrich itself. The result was a willingness by the subjugated colonized people to risk everything, even their lives, for independence. They did so when they believed independence was a real possibility. In other words, they compared themselves to the other group (the colonial power), found the comparison to be unacceptably negative, sought and found an alternative, and engaged in social competition (rebellion) to achieve it" (Cottam et. al., 2004, p. 47-8; emphasis added)

Images and Policy Dispositions

Image theory is based on the assumption that humans need to categorize their environment in order to understand a complicated and often confusing world. Social-identity theory is interested in the role of cognitive conceptions of the world on social developments. �Social categories and images of others are shared cognitive constructs. Their existence is commonly recognized and accepted, and they are transmitted in society and across generations through learning and the socialization process� (Cottam and Cottam, 2001, p. 8).