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Beyond dependence: An identity approach to social power and domination

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Abstract

This article outlines a new approach to the social psychology of power. Specifically, it challenges the currently influential conflictoriented dependence analysis, in which power operates as an almost exclusively repressive force. Drawing on relevant work from other social science disciplines, the article presents an identity model of power, in which both consensus and conflict play important roles. The model theorizes power as a productive as well as repressive force, and differentiates between social power toachieve desired outcomes and social power overothers (domination). The implications of the model for two classic issues in the power literature are considered: the relationship between power and status, and challenges to power (resistance and social change). The model's empirical potential is also discussed.

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... Accordingly, he indicated persuasion by leaders for real progressive social change. Furthering Turner's views, Simon and Oakes (2006) suggested an alternative understanding of power as a consensual relationship between two groups in an isolated social universe. Power can be also conceptualized in terms of its constructive and destructive potentials from an ecological perspective resonating with the coloniality of knowledge, being, and power (Maldonado-Torres, 2016). ...
... Social psychological research rooted in social identity theory (SIT) generally prioritized understanding the construction and maintenance of social identities in relation to influence and status dynamics (Hornsey, 2008). However, other work also elaborated on identity and power dynamics Simon & Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005). Specifically, Turner (2005) argued that power emerges from social identity as shaped through group formation, social organization, and shared beliefs, cultural ideologies, and values. ...
... Specifically, Turner (2005) argued that power emerges from social identity as shaped through group formation, social organization, and shared beliefs, cultural ideologies, and values. Furthering Turner's theorizing, Simon and Oakes (2006) paved the way for a relational explanation of how social identities can lead to a sense of group power when the latter is conceptualized as the ability to recruit human agency in the service of the group's agenda. Other critical contributions at the nexus of identity and power have been implicated in social psychological models of collective action, albeit without much critical investigation of the concept and the contents of power itself, especially among the members of the oppressed groups. ...
Article
Abstract The relationship between social identity and power is rarely explored from the perspective of racialized people, especially in the context of forced migration. In this research, we focus on Kurds, an oppressed but resisting racialized group in a non-Western context characterized by internal colonialism. Using an anticolonial and critical race approach, we examine the role of internal migration in understanding the relations between marginalized identities relevant to Kurdishness and dimensions of Kurdish power. We conducted in-person surveys with 207 Kurds from three cities of Western Turkey and three cities of Bakur Kurdistan. We considered the heterogeneity of Kurdish identity (Kurd, Kurdistanî, and Kurdish Movement identifications) and the assimilative ‘Türkiyeli’ superordinate identity. We used dimensions of power attributed to collective resistance (i.e. power from below) and oppressive governance (i.e., privileged power). We tested how different identities predict understandings of power and we examined the amplifying role of internal migration background. The findings indicate that Kurdish identity (specifically movement identity) and being internal diaspora are both crucial for power from below among Kurds. However, these associations are independent from each other. These findings contribute to critical perspectives on marginalized (including migrant) identities and agency, especially in relation to racial oppression. KEYWORDS: Kurdishness, identity, power, forced migration, internal diaspora.
... Research on multicultural conflicts shows that issues of identity and power are closely intertwined (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Byrd, 2009). Many nations witness radical fights from indigenous groups for dominance of their cultural identity and demand cultural assimilation from immigrants (Klandermans and Mayer, 2006). ...
... Their fight is fuelled by fear of power loss and hope for power gain. This fight enforces the dominance of indigenous cultural identity and empowers these groups (Simon and Oakes, 2006). Likewise, a person belonging to a dominant ethnic group (i.e. a white person in the UK) would be bestowed more power in that society as opposed to a person from a minority ethnic group (i.e., an Asian person in the UK) (Kara, 2017). ...
... Likewise, a person belonging to a dominant ethnic group (i.e. a white person in the UK) would be bestowed more power in that society as opposed to a person from a minority ethnic group (i.e., an Asian person in the UK) (Kara, 2017). Individuals in disadvantaged positions might use their identity to influence others and gain access to social power (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Kara, 2017). ...
Article
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Purpose How do females with multiple sources of identity deal with intersectional identity tensions and perceived lack of access to social power? The study focuses on how social relationships form and develop in masculinised settings between construction workers and a petite female researcher through perceived notions of equality and inequality. Through autoethnographic tales, the study examines how an academic home comer navigates between conflicting professional and cultural identities, in their native country. Design/methodology/approach Using collaborative autoethnography, the study examines how the intersections of being a young petite female and a “partial” insider in a male-dominated construction industry influences the researcher's identity work process and her quest for social power. Findings The findings suggest that to access referent social power, the researcher covers stigmatised intersectional attributes and reveals a more favourable identity. The fieldwork journey of the young petite female researcher highlights that identity work is a situational process that evolves with respondent relationships, respondent assigned roles, perceived notion of access to power and struggles of cultural versus professional identity. The reader is also taken through the collaborative autoethnographic journey of a female researcher and her doctoral studies supervisor. Originality/value This paper makes several contributions. First, it contributes to the academic literature on intersectionality of identity, especially concentrating on the intersectional attributes of petite physical stature, gender and perceived lack of access to social power. Second, this paper theorises identity work processes as an indirect strategy of social power in researcher-and-researched relationships. Last, through collaborative autoethnography of female researchers' fieldwork journey, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on academic home comers as “partial” insiders in their native country.
... When actors lack information during the innovation process, they assess new ideas according to the norms and values of the social group to which they belong (Adarves-Yorno et al., 2006;2007). Therefore, we use a social identity approach to understand influence tactics deployed by individuals to impose their ideas on others (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005). ...
... The social identity approach of power provides a multi-level dynamic framework (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005). This approach proposes that individuals identify themselves as belonging to one group and that a shared social identity can be a source of mutual influence. ...
... However, researchers in this field are slightly nuancing this negative view and suggest that power should also be understood as a productive phenomenon (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005). The exercise of power enables achievement of objectives through coordination of human activities. ...
Conference Paper
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This paper aims at understanding the process of multiple decision-making during new product development and its impact on uncertainty as risks for project outcomes or opportunity for new successful developments. We study 5 innovation projects. We combine three different methods to study the evolution of uncertainty in the projects as well as interactions among individual in terms of power. Firstly, narrations and event structure analysis allow identifying succession of events in those projects and characterising them in terms of uncertainty. Then, qualitative comparative analysis is used to characterise different forms of power which impact uncertainty. Finally social network analysis provides insights on the positioning of individuals. The results demonstrate that uncertainty can sustain the identification of new opportunities as it is associated with the simultaneous exercise of persuasive and authoritarian power.
... Identity Model of Power Simon, B., & Oakes, P. (2006). Beyond dependence: An identity approach to social power and domination. ...
... The more such shared identity, the more power is consensus-based, whereas the more differentiated group members' identities, the more power is conflict-based. Simon and Oakes (2006) present an antecedent of the capacity for volitional influence-shared identity. With shared identity, consensus is possible, and thus power is aligned. ...
... This dynamic relationship between leaders and followers has the capacity to unleash powerful collective forces Van Bavel & Packer, 2021). Indeed, more generally, the co-action of followers in the context of shared social identity is the basis for an emergent group power which has the potential to constitute a world-changing social force (Simon & Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005;Van Bavel & Packer, 2021). As the events on Capitol Hill make clear, these can be destructive for a society (Serban et al., 2018;Yammarino, Mumford, Serban, & Shirreffs, 2013). ...
... The general point here, to which we have already alluded, is that, because it mobilizes social identity, identity leadership is a source of social power Simon & Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005;Van Bavel & Packer, 2021). It is how that power is crafted and then wielded upon which matters of virtue hinge. ...
Article
This article develops a dual-agency model of leadership which treats collective phenomena as a co-production involving both leaders and followers who identify with the same social group. The model integrates work on identity leadership and engaged followership derived from the social identity approach in social psychology. In contrast to binary models which view either leaders or followers as having agency, this work argues that leaders gain influence by defining the parameters of action in ways that frame the agency of their followers but leave space for creativity in how collective goals are accomplished. Followers in turn, exhibit their loyalty and attachment to the leader by striving to be effective in advancing these goals, thereby empowering and giving agency to the leader. We illustrate the model primarily through the events of 6th January 2021 when Donald Trump’s exhortations to his supporters that they should ‘fight’ to ‘stop the steal’ of the 2020 election was followed by an attack on the United States’ Capitol. We argue that it is Trump’s willing participation in this mutual process of identity enactment, rather than any instructions contained in his speech, that should be the basis for assessing his influence on, and responsibility for, the assault.
... A number of pragmatic and conceptual issues must be addressed when developing a measure of power. First, we note that power has been defined in numerous ways, such as the ability to direct human agency in service of a specific agenda (Simon & Oakes, 2006); as a motive to survive and thrive within a given environment (Pratto et al., 2011); and as the 'combination of ability and opportunity to influence a course of events' (Prilleltensky, 2008, p. 119). We conceptualize power specifically as a state in which people feel they can influence, and be free from the influence of others (Lammers et al., 2016). ...
Article
This article reports the development and validation of the Episodic Empowerment Scale (EES): A manipulation check designed to measure a momentary psychological state. In Study 1, participants ( n = 125) completed a selection of candidate items after being exposed to a low‐ or high‐power manipulation. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reduce the number of items to a brief five‐item measure. We then examined the validity, reliability, and stability of the EES. Study 2 ( n = 143) compared the target sensitivity of the EES to a widely used measure of power. In Study 3 ( n = 129), we investigated the discriminant content validity of the EES by testing its sensitivity to a non‐target manipulation: positive and negative affect. Finally, in a large‐scale replication, Study 4 ( n = 479) established the measurement invariance of the EES across experimental conditions and the interaction between conditions and gender as well as replicating the findings from Study 1. Our results indicate that the EES is a brief, valid, and sensitive manipulation check. Findings are discussed within the broader context of validating self‐report manipulation checks and the importance of employing robust psychometric techniques in experimental social psychology.
... Because people are more trusting of [132], [133], have better communication with [171], [172], and are more well-intentioned towards those they share a sense of social identity with [173], [174], [175], a target person with a greater sense of shared identity with those around them has a greater potential to draw upon those people to work with them. Moreover, through this, they will have greater 'social power' [176]. ...
Preprint
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A core part of human intelligence is the ability to work flexibly with others to achieve both individual and collective goals. The incorporation of artificial agents into human spaces is making increasing demands on artificial intelligence (AI) to demonstrate and facilitate this ability. However, this kind of flexibility is not well understood because existing approaches to intelligence typically focus either on the individual or the collective level of analysis. At the individual level, intelligence is seen as an individual-difference trait that exists independently of the social environment. At the collective level intelligence is conceptualized as a property of groups, but not in a way that can be used to understand how groups can make group members smarter or how group members acting as individuals might make the group itself more intelligent. In the present paper we argue that by focusing either on individual or collective intelligence without considering their interaction, existing conceptualizations of intelligence limit the potential of people and machines. To address this impasse, we identify and explore a new kind of intelligence - socially-minded intelligence - that can be applied to both individuals (in a social context) and collectives (of individual minds). From a socially-minded intelligence perspective, the potential intelligence of individuals is unlocked in groups, while the potential intelligence of groups is maximized by the flexible, context-sensitive commitment of individual group members. We propose ways in which socially-minded intelligence might be measured and cultivated within people, as well as how it might be modelled in AI systems. Finally, we discuss ways in which socially-minded intelligence might be used to improve human-AI teaming.
... 14 Gaertner/Mann/Murrell/Dovidio (1989). 15 Simon/Oakes (2006). hätten. ...
Chapter
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In den letzten Jahren haben schwere Krisen Deutschland erschüttert. Die Corona-Pandemie und der anhaltende Ukraine-Krieg sind nur einige Beispiele für Krisen, die die Bevölkerung nachhaltig verunsichert haben. Die in Deutschland lebenden Menschen legen ihre Hoffnung in die Hände der Bundesregierung, die die öffentliche Daseinsvorsorge auch in Krisenzeiten sichern soll. An dieser Stelle scheint die Gesellschaft jedoch in unterschiedliche soziale Lager mit teils gegensätzlichen Interessen zu zerfallen. Was der eine als gerecht empfindet, macht den anderen unzufrieden. Wie könnte die Bundesregierung die öffentliche Daseinsvorsorge in Krisenzeiten transparenter und nachvollziehbarer kommunizieren? In diesem Kapitel wird eine Möglichkeit vorgestellt, wie mit Hilfe sozialpsychologischer Theorien eine Situation der antagonistischen Kooperation erzeugt werden könnte, in der ursprüngliche Eigengruppen-Fremdgruppen-Kategorisierungen abgeschwächt, uminterpretiert und konstruktiv genutzt werden könnten.
... This research is informed by an understanding of heterosexism as a form of structural stigma which empowers sexual majority individuals and disempowers sexual minority individuals through a variety of psychological processes (Herek, 2007). We understand status to refer to group hierarchies and power to the processes by which those hierarchies are attenuated or enhanced (Sidanius & Pratto, 2001;Simon & Oakes, 2006). In social climate that are increasingly favorable toward sexual orientation equality, status hierarchies can be sustained less by direct discrimination than by modern prejudice that does not seem to be based on sexual orientation at all . ...
Article
Auditory gaydar happens when people's heterosexuality is called into question by their vocal characteristics. Auditory gaydar has been shown to prompt discrimination against both women and men interviewing for leadership positions. Two experiments tested whether attributional ambiguity makes auditory gaydar discrimination difficult to detect in such contexts. Either heterosexual participants (Study 1, n = 161) or heterosexual and sexual minority participants (Study 2, n = 238) heard short clips of straight- vs. lesbian/gay-sounding speakers, described as unsuccessful applicants for leadership positions. Participants explained the speakers' unsuccessful outcome in their own words and rated the likelihood that gender and sexual orientation discrimination caused that outcome. Attributions to gender discrimination were common whilst attributions to sexual prejudice were vanishingly rare. Women targets were rated more likely to have experienced gender discrimination, and lesbian/gay-sounding targets were rated more likely to have experienced sexual orientation discrimination by some participants (Study 1) or all participants (Study 2). We conclude that auditory gaydar may prompt discriminatory treatment in leadership hiring processes more readily than in prompts the recognition that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has occurred.
... Originally, Turner (2005) argued that power emerges from social identity as shaped through group formation, social organization and the shared beliefs, cultural ideologies and values. Furthering Turner's theorizing, Simon and Oakes (2006) paved the way for a relational explanation of how social identities can lead to a sense of group power when this latter is conceptualized as the ability to recruit human agency in the service of group's agenda. Indeed, this is also implicated in recent models of collective action that underline the importance of collective efficacy (as a sense of group power) as a bridge between relevant collective identities and specific collective actions as well as the empowering role of such processes (Van Zomeren et al., 2010;Drury & Reicher, 2005). ...
Technical Report
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This research aims to practice one of the many ways to decolonize social psychological research in the context of Kurds living within the nationally imposed boundaries of Turkey: We bring fresh research findings on community power back to the community so that the scientific product is open to critiques and suggestions for change ‘from below’. Back in 2019, we conducted a research in which, we delved into the understandings and sense making of Kurdish power among Kurds who live within the imposed boundaries of Turkey (e.g. Coşkan & Şen, 2023). In the current research supported by SPSSI’s Global South Grant, I conducted a small scale community participatory research with focus groups from an anticolonial and critical race approach (Fernández, 2022). Specifically, in six focus groups (N = 35) in four cities in Western Turkey and Bakur Kurdistan, We presented the findings of ‘Kurdish Power’ to Kurdish community members and engaged with them to listen and learn from their evaluation and critiques of these findings as well as our perspective/methodology and to experiment with new ways of doing decolonial research in the context of colonial imposition against Kurds. The data consisting of focus group transcriptions and notes was analyzed by conducting a thematic reflexive analysis with an inductive approach to better understand the shared patterns of meaning across the focus groups. Four themes highlighted the community interpretations and critiques of previous research findings on ‘Kurdish Power’. The first theme was mainly composed of critical reflections on “What does these findings tell us?”, while the second theme called “Let me tell you what this means (and what to do accordingly)” involved interpretations and critical knowledge transfer. The third theme emphasized that “Each of us has our own sides in this (his)story” in relation to the findings. Finally, the fourth theme, namely “I will share these with my friends and you should share these with Turks too”, served to collect evaluations regarding the research. Preliminary implications suggest that taking back the findings of scientific studies back to the oppressed but resisting communities will guide us to subvert the epistemological ignorance pursued in social psychological research. More importantly, it will help our communities to reflect on the concepts and phenomena that we do not usually think thoroughly in the midst of political events and resistance engagement.
... Social power is not always controlling but has the potential to be a creative and constructive force for the group's wellbeing. The investment of identity to enhance social power has a positive influence on the group members (Simon & Oakes, 2006); however, this does not seem as a universal process if the sociocultural influence is also utilized in the understanding of power. In some sociocultural terrains, possessing an ascribed identity led to the forced preoccupation with the stigma and threats associated with it (Breakwell, 1993). ...
... Ainsi, le combat contre le déni de reconnaissance devrait se porter au niveau politique et étatique (macro) ou, selon Castro (2012) dans la sphère politique-juridique. Le pouvoir ne représente pas toujours une entrave au changement social, il peut en être aussi une source (B.Simon & Oakes, 2006). En même temps que le gouvernement a le pouvoir d'exclure du groupe national ceux et celles déviant à la norme établie par le groupe majoritaire, il a aussi le pouvoir de les inclure, en changeant cette norme.Ainsi, le changement social sur la sphère politique-juridique peut être déclenché par l'application d'une loi ou des politiques publiques. ...
Thesis
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Dans cette thèse de doctorat, nous nous intéressons au déni de reconnaissance de l’appartenance nationale des Français et Françaises d’origine maghrébine, dont la majorité sont de confession musulmane. Nous avons d’abord conduit des focus groups auprès des Françaises d’origine maghrébine portant un voile au sujet de leurs expériences de ce déni de reconnaissance. Les résultats montrent qu’en plus de ne pas se sentir reconnues en tant que membres du groupe national, ces femmes rapportent avoir leur identité religieuse mise en avant au détriment de toute autre appartenance groupale. Elles se sentent perçues comme opprimées et se déclarent comme étant invisibilisées dans la société. Finalement, elles conçoivent les politiciens comme les principaux agents de leur déni de reconnaissance. Ensuite, des études quantitatives réalisées auprès des Français et Françaises d’origine maghrébine nous ont permis de distinguer, sur le plan empirique et théorique, le déni de reconnaissance de la perception de discrimination. Les résultats ont démontré que le déni de reconnaissance de l’appartenance nationale peut être associé à des attitudes hostiles à l’égard du groupe majoritaire (au niveau intragroupe, au sein de la société française) et à des intentions prosociales à l’égard de réfugiés syriens (au niveau intergroupe). Ces répercussions du déni de reconnaissance sont discutées et accompagnées des suggestions pour les politiques publiques, visant combattre cette forme de rejet.
... This reasoning suggests that self-reinforcing, increasing legitimation sequences of institutional reproduction are most likely to be set in motion in situations where opposition to a certain institutional arrangement on the grounds of "appropriateness" does not overlap with mobilized, politically salient social identities shared by a sizable portion of the population. This could happen as a result of either (i) an institution's intergroup appeal, which should increase with the extent to which meaningful concessions are made to the interests, aspirations, and values of mobilized social groups; or (ii) the absence of large, organized social groups whose members espouse beliefs concerning appropriateness that are starkly at variance with those enshrined in the institutional arrangement in question, given the intellectual "hegemony" of the dominant group, the purchase of shared "higher-level [e.g., national] identities" (Simon and Oakes 2006), or the multidimensionality of most citizens' politically salient lower-level identities, which has been found to temper the extremism generally associated with the mobilization of subnational, ethnic allegiances (Chandra 2005). Chandra (2005) has shown that even the most deeply divided societies can defuse the potential for ethnic extremism if the rules of the game incentivize the politicization and mobilization of multiple aspects of citizens' lower-level identities, citing India as the prime example. ...
Book
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While the literature on “new institutionalism” explains the stability of institutional arrangements within countries and the divergence of paths of institutional development between countries, Federico Ferrara takes a “historical institutionalist” approach to theorize dynamic processes of institutional reproduction, institutional decay, and institutional change in explaining the development of political institutions. Ferrara synthesizes “power-based” or “power-distributional” explanations and “ideas-based” “legitimation explanations.” He specifies the psychological “microfoundations” of processes of institutional development, drawing heavily from the findings of experimental psychology to ensure that the explanation is grounded in clear and realistic assumptions regarding human motivation, cognition, and behavior. Aside from being of interest to scholars and graduate students in political science and other social-scientific disciplines whose research concentrates on the genesis of political institutions, their evolution over time, and their impact on the stability of political order and the quality of governance, the book will be required reading in graduate courses and seminars in comparative politics where the study of institutions and their development ranks among the subfield’s most important subjects.
... This indicates that the candidates who have the social power will be preferable to the selection panels. Simon and Oakes (2006) suggest that a dependence model of power can be identified only in group interactions where self-categorization is replacing social identity. Social identity theory is built on identifying the social group and how its members are dependent on material resources such as rewards and non-material resources such as information and protection (Hornsey, 2008). ...
Thesis
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This study explores employees’ perceptions of justice regarding internal selection in the Ministry of Education ( MOE) in the Sultanate of Oman. The study explores the perceptions of all employees in different hierarchical levels and all the interactions which might develop during the internal selection. The literature highlights the importance of employees’ perceptions of justice within selection processes both for the wellbeing of employees and for the organisation’s effectiveness. Moreover, improving the selection processes would populate the MOE with the best education specialists and therefore make the MOE better able to deliver the best education system. There is scant literature that tackles the perceptions from the standpoint of social interactions and the influence of the perception of power in these interactions. Therefore, this study explores internal selection from two perspectives: the organisational perspective and the social interactions perspective. The organisational perspective explores internal selection by examining the process of selection and the management system in the MOE and applying the model of organisational justice to examine the extent to which employees perceive justice in internal selection in the MOE. The social interactions perspective looks at the influence of culture (national & organisational), self-categorisation, group membership and the power effect in employees’ perception of justice in internal selection in the MOE. This study uses mixed methods to investigate internal selection in the MOE in the Sultanate of Oman, the research being conducted through an online survey and interviews with employees at different hierarchical levels in MOE.The findings of the study show that perception can be influenced both by social interactions and organisational practices affecting internal selection in the MOE. The organisational culture has more influence on employees’ perceptions than national culture, although the findings also show that employees’ perceptions of justice are influenced by the national policies and laws which determine the status of public organisations in the society. The existence of policies, a strategic plan, and processes, is essential in standardising the procedures and making the internal selection transparent for all employees in the MOE. Moreover, the findings show a trend away from collective identity towards self-categorisation, drawing attention to the fact that employees’ participation in the process of decision-making plays a role in their perception of justice in the MOE. Furthermore, the findings show the need for a system of feedback and two-way communication in the MOE, which would enhance the transparency of internal selection and lead to a positive perception of the MOE’s internal selection.
... Resistance (referring to acts of reacting against or dissenting) can manifest with respect to attendant issues of power and identity (Gabriel, 1999;Stokes, 2011). Extant scholarship reveals that power-both consensual and conflictual-is made possible to a large extent by identity processes (Simon & Oakes, 2006). Thus, syllogically, it could make sense to examine the concept of identity first. ...
Article
National identity has been found to be a basis for othering and resistance in host country managers at multinational enterprises overseas’ affiliates. An original model of employee’s resistance using national identity has developed a nuanced understanding of how resistance manifests. This research tests this original model in a multinational enterprise’s office in the emerging market and power distance accepting India. A case study design was adopted. Interpretive analysis of the data indicates that the newly developed model could apply to Indian situations, and collateral inductive reasoning proposes a further refinement to this model. Thus, besides verbal othering, it is found that the use of space and rituals can also be used in the acts of resistance and further it is proposed that such acts are not necessarily continuous, but can manifest intermittently. Hence, the practising international human resources manager now has a broader lens to assess resistance manifestation, facilitating sooner remedial countermeasures. The cross-cultural study is among the pioneers in studying national identity as a means of resistance in a power distance accepting context in general, and the under-researched advanced economy, emerging market Japan–India international business dyad specifically. It contributes to cross-cultural management (CCM) literature by surfacing the darker side of globalization—the power retained by the parent company and concomitant subordination of the host country manager that results in resistance. This study adds to the under-researched India–Japan global business scholarship.
... Dolayısıyla üst iktidar değişim için sosyal gücü oluşturacak alt iktidarları kullanmakta ve kendisini gizlemektedir. Alt iktidarlar örgütsel liderler olarak üst iktidarın tanımladığı örgütsel hedefleri personelin kabul etmesinden ve hedeflerin gerçekleştirmede izlenecek yol ve yöntemin kurgulanmasından sorumludur (Simon & Oakes, 2006). Aynı zamanda disiplin sürecinin pozitif uygulamaların içine gizlenmesi gereklidir. ...
... Speaking in terms of SET, a large amount of formal authority and economic resources given to a supervisor may create dependency of subordinates and thus give rise to supervisors' abuse of power. In this case, "negative power" (Simon and Oakes, 2006;Rus, 1980) focused on personal interests of supervisors instead of pursuing organisational goals, arises. It is the type of power AS relates to (Kelloway and Barling, 2010;Lian et al., 2012). ...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify previously unexamined predictors of abusive supervision (AS) that stem from socio-economic dependency of employees upon their direct supervisors. Design/methodology/approach Using social exchange theory (SET) as framework, the author conducted empirical analysis that was based on survey data collected among 1,100 Russian white-collar private sector employees. Findings The results reveal the importance of organisation-level managerial practices which create employees' socio-economic dependency in predicting abusive supervision (AS). Significant positive predictions of AS in Russian business organisations are “accidental” and “zero-option” employment; getting a job through informal social contacts (“blat”); and dependence of wage upon personal relations with a supervisor. In turn, performance-based payment is the strongest factor that hinders AS. Taken together, these factors support one of the key assumptions of SET that control over valued resources creates imbalanced power relations, thus providing the fertile ground to the abuse of power. Practical implications Findings show that a transparent, performance-based system of payments, contributes to preventing AS by immediate supervisors. The author also provides arguments for reducing the economic and administrative power of line managers. Originality/value This study adds to the understanding of the role of managerial practices, which create socio-economic dependency of employees from managers, in predicting AS in organisations.
... En este contexto, el poder se conceptualiza como una fuerza mediante la cual los individuos, o los grupos, pueden lograr sus objetivos o intereses por encima y en contra de la voluntad de los demás. Sobre la base de la creación de identidades culturales, Simon y Oakes (2006) han creado el modelo de identidad de poder centrado en tres puntos críticos: 1) el poder se genera mediante la agencia humana; 2) para establecer una relación de poder es necesario reconocer una identidad, ya sea explícita o implícitamente; 3) el proceso de reconocimiento del poder implica elementos de conflicto o consenso determinados por la importancia relativa de las identidades compartidas y diferenciadas. ...
Article
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La representación del miedo hacia el Otro ha sido una de las temáticas más recurrentes en el género de la ciencia ficción. En esta línea, esta investigación articula un análisis de la serie noruega Beforeigners en torno al discurso de la identidad. Desde una perspectiva cualitativa, se ha realizado un análisis textual que ha puesto de manifiesto que en la serie prevalecen los valores comunitarios y solidarios. En la discusión se han contrapuestos los resultados con otras series del género y se ha evidenciado lo paradigmático de la narrativa de la serie. Asimismo, se destaca el tono crítico de la serie hacia las políticas de inmigración de la Unión Europea.
... Power is considered as the coercive element which can fix up who will come over the class of interest and will. For more details, see, Simon, B., & Oakes, P. (2006). Beyond dependence: An identity approach to social power and domination. ...
Article
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Political participation is one of the key factors to empower women in society. It motivates women to take part in the process of decision making in power structures. Women Union Parishad (UP) members are considered as politically active women at the local level but they also face many challenges to be politically active. The principal objective of the study is to understand women's political participation and women empowerment at the lowest stage of local government. This research also explores the women UP member's capability to take part in the decision-making process at the local government power structure. This study focuses on gender inequality at the local government though reserved seats have included women at the local government they are not politically empowered in the local power structure.
... In intergroup contexts, consistently making nonnormative groups the subject of comparison, and thereby linguistically marking them as deviation from a (normative) referent group, can negatively affect members of nonnormative groups (Bruckmüller, 2013;Cihangir et al., 2013;Lowery & Wout, 2010). Moreover, as normativity is intertwined with status and power (Simon & Oakes, 2006), repeatedly presenting a group as the referent can cause this group to appear more powerful and higher in status (Bruckmüller & Abele, 2010) and can contribute to the legitimization of inequality (Bruckmüller et al., 2012). ...
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Gender inequality is usually described as women’s disadvantage, only rarely as men’s advantage. Moreover, it is often illustrated by metaphors such as the glass ceiling—an invisible barrier to women’s career advancement—metaphors that often also focus on women’s disadvantage. Two studies (N = 228; N = 495) examined effects of these different ways of framing gender inequality. Participants read about gender inequality in leadership with a focus on either women or men, and either without a metaphor (women underrepresented vs. men overrepresented) or with a women-focused or men-focused metaphor (glass ceiling/labyrinth vs. old boys’ club). Metaphors caused participants to perceive gender inequality as (somewhat) more important. Regardless of metaphor use, women-focused descriptions led to more explanations of inequality focusing on women relative to explanations focusing on men, as well as to more suggestions of interventions targeting women at the expense of interventions aimed at systemic changes.
... Status manipulations in such studies generally relied on prestige and esteem, assigning participants to groups according to their alleged creativity (Sachdev & Bourhis, 1991) or artistic taste (Lücken & Simon, 2005). Since national majorities and cultural minorities generally differ in terms of access to cultural and material resources (see Simon & Oakes, 2006), we defined status in terms of social standing by differentiating groups based on education and career success or failure. ...
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The degree to which classical liberal, individualist principles of Western societies are seen as (in)compatible with multiculturalism and minority rights is a key issue in diverse societies. Classical liberalism is grounded in individual justice principles, suggesting that individuals are responsible for their own fate and should be treated according to their personal characteristics, regardless of group membership. Multiculturalism, in turn, is grounded in collective justice principles, recognizing cultural differences and seeking greater equality between groups. The present research investigates how asymmetric group membership in dominant and subordinate groups shapes perceived compatibility between classical liberalism and multiculturalism. A correlational study (N = 141) first shows that cultural minorities perceive greater compatibility between the two justice principles compared to native majorities. A second (N = 202) and third (N = 164) experimental study involving the description of a fictitious society manipulated perspective-taking as a function of social status, cultural origin and numerical size of groups. The findings show that respondents taking the perspective of immigrant groups perceive greater compatibility between classical liberalism and multiculturalism as an abstract ideology compared to a native perspective, and that a low status perspective leads to greater compatibility between classical liberalism and multiculturalism as a concrete policy compared to a high status perspective. Overall, these studies suggest that membership in subordinate groups generally increases perceived compatibility between individual and collective forms of justice. Implications associated with growing civic integrationist policies in Europe are discussed.
... The low association of the Power and Agency dictionaries is in line with the recent finding that power-understood as hierarchical relations between people or having dominance over others-is fundamentally different from agency, which is being in a position of achieving one's goals (e.g. Simon & Oakes, 2006;Turner, 2005). Naturally, having power is associated with having agency, as privileged positions grant higher possibilities in fulfilling goals. ...
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Four studies developed and validated two dictionaries to capture agentic and communal expressions in natural language. Their development followed the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) approach (Study 1) and we tested their validity with frequency‐based analyses and semantic similarity measures. The newly developed Agency and Communion dictionaries were aligned with LIWC categories related to agency and communion (Study 2), and corresponded with subjective ratings (Study 3), confirming their convergent validity. Very low or absent correspondence between proposed dictionaries and unrelated LIWC categories demonstrated their discriminant validity (Study 2). Finally, we applied both dictionaries to language used in advertisements. In correspondence to gender stereotypes, male‐dominated jobs were advertised with more agentic than communal words, and female‐dominated jobs with more communal than agentic words (Study 4). Both dictionaries represent reliable tools for quantifying agentic and communal content in natural language, and will improve and facilitate future research on agency and communion. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Однако большой объем властных полномо чий, предоставленных руководителю, мо жет создавать условия для злоупотребления властью в личных интересах, не связанных с целями организации или противополож ных им. В этом случае речь идет о «нега тивном» типе власти [Rus, 1980;Simon, Oakes, 2006], цель которой -упрочение личной власти как таковой, подавление, унижение подчиненных. Именно к таким проявлениям власти относится «враждеб ное» поведение руководителя [Kelloway, Barling, 2010;Lian, Ferris, Brown, 2012a;Xu et al., 2012]. ...
... A social identity perspective on power emphasises the perspectival nature of how power is experienced (Simon & Oakes 2006). For those who identify with the group and its leader, a proposal or directive from the in-group leadership tends to be received as beneficial; for those at the margins or even outside of the group, the same leadership proposals may be experienced as manipulative or coercive. ...
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In a climate of institutional change and loss of authority, it is urgently needed to rethink the legitimacy of religious authority. This article offers a case study of Paul’s authority claims in Corinth, using French & Raven’s theory of social power, to offer new insights into the construction of religious leadership. Paul negotiated renewed acceptance as Corinth’s founder and apostle by appealing to legitimate power that he was a better leader than Moses, even Christ’s ambassador, and by undermining the legitimate power of his opponents who claimed Jewish descent and apostolic miracles as key leadership markers. Similarly, Paul appealed to referent power by portraying his suffering as a mark of Christ-embodying leadership and undermined the referent power of his opponents by denouncing status, patronage support and rhetoric as legitimation for leadership. Paul did not appeal to other power bases (informational, expert, reward and coercion), because he could not be sure to outrank his opponents on those counts. This analysis suggests that religious authority in the form of Paul’s founding apostleship was difficult to comprehend and embed in the social and cultural structures of Corinth at that time. Paul needed to engage in intense contention and negotiation to construct a socially and culturally viable model of leadership that would do justice to his vision of Christian identity. As a corollary, the evidence of the intensity of this conflict at various levels throughout the epistle can be interpreted as supporting the literary unity of the epistle.
... For one, Hegarty and Bruckmüller (2013) appealed to power in their review of asymmetric explanations of social group differences such as the tendency to explain gender differences by focusing on women more than men. Ingroup projection theorists also note that power determines the overall typicality of superordinate social groups (Danbold & Huo, 2017;Wenzel et al., 2007), and Simon and Oakes (2006) suggested that powerful people intentionally position themselves as typical. In addition, power asymmetries are a key aspect of gender. ...
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Androcentrism refers to the propensity to center society around men and men’s needs, priorities, and values and to relegate women to the periphery. Androcentrism also positions men as the gender-neutral standard while marking women as gender-specific. Examples of androcentrism include the use of male terms (e.g., he), images, and research participants to represent everyone. Androcentrism has been shown to have serious consequences. For example, women’s health has been adversely affected by over-generalized medical research based solely on male participants. Nonetheless, relatively little is known about androcentrism’s proximate psychological causes. In the present review, we propose a social cognitive perspective arguing that both social power and categorization processes are integral to understanding androcentrism. We present and evaluate three possible pathways to androcentrism deriving from (a) men being more frequently instantiated than women, (b) masculinity being more “ideal” than femininity, and/or (c) masculinity being more common than femininity.
Chapter
Heightened ingroup favoritism under threat conditions is a well-established phenomenon in social psychology. Past research has focused on self-esteem as a motive for ingroup favoritism, but inconsistent evidence has led some researchers to consider alternate motives. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of COVID-19-related threats to perceived control on ingroup favoritism. We hypothesized that (a) ingroup favoritism would increase perceived control and (b) threats to perceived control would increase ingroup favoritism. Participants were randomly allocated to three conditions in which they read a low-threat article on COVID-19, a high-threat article on COVID-19, or a control article. Participants then completed a resource allocation task where they were allowed to distribute 100 vaccinations between the outgroup (Asians) and the ingroup (New Zealanders). Control was measured before and after the allocation task. The results did not support our hypotheses; ingroup favoritism did not affect perceived control, and COVID-19-related threats did not reduce perceptions of control. There was a modest effect of ingroup favoritism. The theoretical ramifications of these findings and their implications for organizational and political leadership are discussed.
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The purpose of this article is to provide an insight into the metaphors that are used to explain gender inequality in an organizational context, with a focus on women. Materials and methods. The study used critical metaphor analysis, which uses the methods of cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis to study metaphors as cognitive tools that can reveal unconscious and automatic connections between different conceptual systems. Results and discussions. Gender inequality is most often represented by the following metaphors: Glass Ceiling, Sticky Floor, Labyrinth, Glass Cliff, Glass Escalator, Glass Stool, Queen Bee, Mommy Track, Matilda Effect, Scissors Effect, Leaky Pipeline, Vanish Box. The metaphors of gender inequality reflect the various obstacles women face in climbing the career ladder. For example, metaphors are used to describe the existing tendency to prioritize men in leadership appointments in teams with a large majority of women; bias against women in hiring and promotion decisions; the need to balance the demands of a job or workplace with domestic responsibilities; work-family conflict, where women are forced to choose non-linear career paths; discrimination and threats to social identity that women may experience in a male-dominated environment; the existence of sexist bias in the scientific environment when, despite the decline in overt discrimination against women, their achievements are still perceived as less important or valuable than those of men. Conclusion. The main characteristic of gender inequality metaphors is feminization (focus on women’s experience), while understanding gender inequality through the prism of masculinity remains unaddressed. Such parameters of metaphors as the focus on the negative side of inequality (the vulnerability of a social group) suggest that the pragmatic function of metaphors of gender inequality is to encourage action to change the position of women. Such an effect could not have been achieved if the focus had been on the privileges that society provides for the career development of representatives of another social group (men). On the other hand, focusing exclusively on women leads to a situation where the dominant concept of gender inequality is women’s personal problems rather than systemic problems, such as gender culture that is oriented towards men, especially those in positions of power, gender stratification, basic principles and rights at work, and others. Thus, rather than systemic change, the metaphors of gender inequality inspire the implementation of policies aimed at helping or changing the position of women.
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This paper situates current social psychological research on the symbolic use of firearms (e.g., as a source of personal safety) in broader historical context to motivate a more thorough consideration of collective power motives. Historically, firearms have been used to dominate racial outgroup members (e.g., White Americans use of firearms and firearm laws to dispossess indigenous people of land or control free and enslaved Black people) or, at times, attempt to resist group-based oppression (e.g., Black Americans use of firearms to struggle against White Jim Crow terrorism). Given most gun owners report self-protection as their primary reason for firearm ownership and yet anti-Black attitudes are still a consistently important predictor of firearm ownership among dominant group members (e.g., White Americans), this paper examines how guns may function as a perceived source of personal safety and collective power. I center the persistent role of White supremacy and anti-Blackness in original U.S. firearm psychology and policy to illuminate the interrelatedness of personal safety and collective power perceptions, and how perceived threats to in-group power may motivate the use of guns and policies that selectively regulate gun access to mitigate associated safety concerns. Seeking to nudge social psychology to more thoroughly examine firearms' potential function as a symbolic source of collective power, I end by discussing how considering collective power can help us better understand how historically dominant and historically marginalized groups view firearms today while also illuminating some barriers to the pursuit of gun safety for all.
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Understanding power and resistance dynamics from below requires focusing on the micropolitics of oppressed group existence. This involves exploring the ways members of the oppressed and resisting groups make sense of power in terms of identity, community, culture and politics. As Kurdish researchers living in Turkey and Bakurê Kurdistan, we conducted in-depth interviews with 16 Kurds in Van and Istanbul. We explored contemporary Kurdish epistemologies and praxis of racial critical consciousness toward contents and sources of Kurdish power. In this pursuit, we contextualized and synergized tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and anticolonial approaches. Our analysis shows that Kurdish understandings of power involve both representations and boundaries. We suggest that Kurdish power is constituted beyond a dualistic understanding of power, capable of creating subaltern strategies. We contribute to the transnational extensions of CRT and provide a contextualized account of antiracist, anticolonial resistance. Keywords: Kurdish power, resistance, oppression, critical race theory, anticolonial thought, critical consciousness
Article
Social psychological research has generally assumed that oppressed groups are powerless because they often have less control over resources and outcomes and power is usually defined as dominance or influence and control. We juxtapose this theoretical assumption with lay beliefs about the ingroup's collective power expressed in semi‐structured interviews among Black Americans ( N = 28). Thematic analysis revealed that participants’ beliefs about ingroup power varied: whereas some participants perceived that the ingroup lacked power, others believed that the ingroup did have power, or the potential to gain it. These beliefs were based on distinct lay theories about collective power, conceptualized at different levels of analysis: the intragroup level (power as community resilience, enhancing ingroup solidarity), intergroup level (power as resistance against oppression, building coalitions between groups) and structural level (power as relative control over resources). We discuss the theoretical and methodological contributions and implications for research on collective power.
Article
In this article, we focus on the process of dis-embedded identification (the accentuation and prioritization of the identification with a particular subordinate ingroup relative to the identification with the relevant superordinate ingroup) among majority members and examine possible antecedents and consequences. To this end, we conducted research with Catholics in Poland. We hypothesized societal respect for Catholics would negatively predict dis-embedded identification, whereas intragroup respect would positively predict dis-embedded identification—especially under the condition of lacking societal respect. We further hypothesized dis-embedded identification to positively predict the pursuit of hegemony. These hypotheses are mainly based on Honneth’s theory of recognition and Turner’s self-categorization theory. Employing a longitudinal research design and latent variable modeling, we obtained supporting evidence for our hypotheses. The implications for further research, especially on intergroup relations and politics in pluralizing societies, are discussed.
Article
Building resilience in small communities has increasingly become an aspirational objective to help adapt to challenging economic and social change. Communities with identified resilience traits are seen to be better equipped to survive and thrive in adversity. Resilience relies on embracing change and social cohesion. However, the divide between social groups of “insiders” and “outsiders” in small communities can divide and suppress resident contributions and participation. This qualitative research in two small South Queensland, Australian towns, population under 2000, interviewed 89 residents using social identity theory and discourse analysis to analyse data. It found social identity phenomena-motivated antisocial behaviours including withheld support, exclusion, derision, criticism, shame/blame gossip, and attack, directly and indirectly. In the research communities, witnessing or experiencing social hostility created hesitation to lead, speak, participate, or innovate without social support, and led to withdrawal, burnout, and departure.
Chapter
This chapter summarises the objections raised to the paradigm 1 approach to school bullying and presents Schott’s hypotheses under paradigm 2. These are based on theories about social relations on a large scale, involving the ongoing formation and maintenance of groups, in a dynamic, continuous process in which power is central. Certain groups are granted more power and are motivated to defend their status, at the expense of some others. If one’s belonging to a group is threatened (‘social exclusion anxiety’), defence often takes the form of marginalising someone else. We can see these processes in areas not usually considered as ‘bullying’, including indirect aggression, sexual and racial harassment and peer group popularity contests. Conversely, we can see traditionally defined bullying as serving the purpose of marginalisation. The ‘marginalisation’ perspective therefore offers a unifying theory for understanding all forms of peer victimisation in schools
Chapter
This final chapter offers some further thoughts in a number of areas that are either neglected or novel in the context of bullying prevention and intervention but deserving of greater consideration and research attention. Some are consistent with a Complex Adaptive Systems conceptualisation of bullying, but those favouring more traditional approaches might also find some inspiration here. Topics discussed include addressing bias-based bullying (e.g. gendered and racist bullying) and prejudice, morality-based methods, the use of the arts, the potential for a new view of bullying in public policy, and teacher education about bullying.
Chapter
The evolutionary theme continues in this chapter, drawing on evidence that while humans are mainly peaceable and cooperative, there is also competition for resources and status, which may sometimes play out in the form of bullying and other forms of unkindness. Smaldino has made an evolutionary argument that humans strive to find others with whom to coordinate, in order to reach their goals. This process involves presenting different aspects of the self, according to context. Through the display of markers of identity, such as dress and language, some people are included in a group and others excluded. This is consistent with a paradigm 2 perspective on bullying that such exclusion is ‘normal’ and often harmless, but that it can sometimes constitute bullying.
Article
We present a systematic review of the literature on power and its interpersonal consequences. Our review, comprising 339 studies published in 145 research articles, shows that this line of research has primarily examined how powerholders attend to and act towards powerless individuals, or others in general. We therefore know surprisingly little about how powerholders attend to and act towards other powerholders. To address this issue, we present a conceptual framework that outlines how an actor’s power interacts with a target’s power to influence prosocial and antisocial beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. We identify two routes in the literature detailing how powerholders respond to one another. First, building on rivalry literature, we present a competitive route suggesting that powerholders rival each other and engage in conflict. Second, building on social identity and social dominance literature, we present a harmonious route suggesting that powerful peers will show compassion and care for each other. Finally, we bring forth suggestions for how future research could test these two perspectives, by presenting moderators that determine when each of these two routes is activated. In doing so, we offer important implications for the power literature and open a new line of inquiry for future research.
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The COVID‐19 pandemic is the greatest global crisis of our lifetimes, and leadership has been critical to societies’ capacity to deal with it. Here effective leadership has brought people together, provided a clear perspective on what is happening and what response is needed, and mobilized the population to act in the most effective ways to bring the pandemic under control. Informed by a model of identity leadership (Haslam, Reicher & Platow, 2020), this review argues that leaders’ ability to do these things is grounded in their ability to represent and advance the shared interests of group members and to create and embed a sense of shared social identity among them (a sense of “us‐ness”). For leaders, then, this sense of us‐ness is the key resource that they need to marshal in order to harness the support and energy of citizens. The review discusses examples of the successes and failures of different leaders during the pandemic and organizes these around five policy priorities related to the 5Rs of identity leadership: readying, reflecting, representing, realizing, and reinforcing. These priorities and associated lessons are relevant not only to the management of COVID‐19 but to crisis management and leadership more generally.
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The chapter analyses China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as Beijing’s grand strategy to assert and legitimate its foreign policy objective of becoming world leader by 2049. Despite Chinese rhetoric about BRI being a project that will benefit the international community and which is in line with the current international order, realpolitik factors inform and drive the project, as China reinforces its exports, increases its sphere of influence, and increasingly sets tomorrow’s norms. In doing so, China projects an image of a country with the objective and power resources of a great power that is ready and willing to take the lead in international affairs. The chapter argues that China mobilizes and operationalizes all the dimensions of power to implement its grand strategy and achieve its aim. Thus, coercion, threats, predatory economics, soft power projection, norms contestation and rules- and institution-building are concealed by social and discursive power of cooperation and connectedness.
Article
The article offers a new perspective on intergroup conflict. While building on social psychological foundations laid down in self-categorization theory, it is also critically informed by and incorporates insights from the neighboring disciplines of social, political, and moral philosophy. The new perspective is organized around the principal working hypothesis that many intergroup conflicts, especially those in modern, culturally diverse societies, can be fruitfully understood as politicized struggles for recognition. In addition, four more specific corollary hypotheses are proposed concerning polarization, respected collective identity, embedded dual identity, and tolerance. The new perspective shifts researchers’ attention to the multi-level nature of intergroup conflict and to the novel concepts of recognition and identity as a different equal.
Thesis
A critical discourse analysis of the development of Israeli identity since the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 until today. The thesis is divided into 3 historical periods and looks into the various sociopolitical issues of each period through identity lenses. The analyzed material is based on parliamentary debates and critical social essays. The work proves to be vital in a time where identity politics play a major role in our post-modernist lives.
Chapter
Advancements in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has transformed the traditional workplaces into digital workplaces. Human resource is regarded as a significant asset in terms of skills and abilities. Flexibility in managing human resources is an important aspect of organizational productivity. With new technologies and digitization, organizations require a flexible system in its portfolio which will encourage employees with multiple job skills and abilities to prove themselves in a result driven environment. In this paper, we present a framework that facilitates interrelationship between human resource flexibility and organizational effectiveness. Further, we establish the possible role of organizational citizenship behavior and employee interest to stay with the organization.
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This study approaches process consulting work as conversation. The commonly shared ideal of process consulting is to help clients to help themselves. To follow this ideal, active client participation and collaborative work between the consultant and the clients in handling the client’s problems are needed. The aim of this thesis is to find out how this is done through talk: what kind of talk is used in process consulting interaction and how is this achieved during multi-party consulting conversations. More specifically, it is asked what kind of discursive activity was used in multi-party settings to bring about active client participation, to facilitate learning and change by bringing about and handling criticism and blame, and to make preferred outcomes noticed within the participating group. Using the perspectives and methods of Discursive Psychology and Conversational Analysis, it is asked how this is done in an authentic process consultation case. This thesis consists of three articles in which situated discursive practices of process consulting are analyzed in detail. Findings of this case study show the rich variety of discursive means that were utilized in multi-party consulting settings to bring about talk, which is needed to put into practice the process consultation ideal of helping clients to help themselves. These are: conversational structures requiring participant’s turn-by-turn responses with which some talk was marked as preferred and this preferred talk was invited; and conversational means like “fishing” or “factualising devices”, which were used e.g. to strengthen the reliability of speakers and to construct the factuality of descriptions about witnessed change and outcomes of the consulting process. This thesis focuses on multi-party settings of process consulting practices and as such, it highlights the significance of client-consultant collaboration and the role of the audience. I claim that, the interactive audience of this case was used as a method in implementing the process consulting ideals and bringing about the needed talk. In doing this, it is suggested that there is a need to construct and establish conversational norms that deviate from more mundane multiparty conversational settings. In this thesis it is shown how the norm of displaying ownership and the norm of not avoiding face-issues were constructed and utilized for consulting purposes of this case. This study describes in detail the actual discursive practices of process consulting in a way that has not been done before. The findings about what was done in this case are situated and case-specific, but, the findings about how what was done was done can have transportability across other consulting and organization development settings. They can be used in developing the practices and procedures of process consulting work. In addition to that, the findings of this thesis are of interest in depicting the picture of process consulting work as a professional institution and, in conceptualizations of client-consultant role in general.
Article
Building on insights from social psychology and political philosophy, I develop a realistic view on disagreement. According to this view, disagreements among people can be traced back to the heterogeneity of social reality and people’s differing social positioning in it with the relativity of identities playing a mediating role. I discuss theoretical and meta-theoretical as well as practical and normative implications of such a view. I also look into the fate of the scientist when she leaves the narrow confines of academia and enters the public sphere in order to intervene in disagreements. Drawing on the vertical structuration of social reality and the corresponding hierarchical or nested nature of people’s identities, I elaborate on a promising path to the resolution of disagreement, in which both scientists and social critics can play constructive roles. This elaboration eventually puts a proceduralist slant on my realistic view on disagreements and their resolution.
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This article presents a theory of the mutually reinforcing interaction between power and stereotyping, mediated by attention. The powerless attend to the powerful who control their outcomes, in an effort to enhance prediction and control, so forming complex, potentially nonstereotypic impressions. The powerful pay less attention, so are more vulnerable to stereotyping. The powerful (a) need not attend to the other to control their own outcomes, (b) cannot attend because they tend to be attentionally overloaded, and (c) if they have high need for dominance, may not want to attend. Stereotyping and power are mutually reinforcing because stereotyping itself exerts control, maintaining and justifying the status quo. Two legal cases and a body of research illustrate the theory and suggest organizational change strategies.
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Part two of Constitution of Power, which includes five chapters, as follows: ch 5, Goals, structures, social consciousness; ch 6, Conflict and consensus; ch 7, Freedom and constraint; ch 8, Social consciousness and multiple interpretative horizons; ch, 9 Resources and capital; ch 10, Truth an discipline; bibliography, and index.
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This chapter seeks to explore how relations of domination are sustained through two processes; as follows: the phenomenon which Marxists call false consciousness, where actors are not fully aware how their social practices reinforce relations of domination; and, secondly, when they are aware, but reproduce those structures anyway.
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In social psychology, we need to establish a general theory of the self, which can attend to both macro and micro processes, and which avoids the redundancies of separate theories on different aspects of the self. For this purpose, we present core components of identity theory and social identity theory and argue that although differences exist between the two theories, they are more differences in emphasis than in kind, and that linking the two theories can establish a more fully integrated view of the self. The core components we examine include the different bases of identity (category/group or role) in each of the theories, identity salience and the activation of identities as discussed in the theories, and the cognitive and motivational processes that emerge from identities based on category/group and on role. By examining the self through the lens of both identity theory and social identity theory, we see how, in combination, they can move us toward a general theory of the self.
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Treatments of Weber's discussion of power have not adequately appreciated that in his analysis power and resistance are distinct but interdependent aspects of power relations. The concept 'resistance' is necessary for an understanding of power relations and irreducible to the concept of 'power'. However this insight cannot be developed from Weberian premises. Through a discussion of accounts of power in Lukes, Giddens, and others, it is shown that the distinction between power and resistance remains obscure for theories which emphasize the formal properties of power and ignore its social context. The exercise of power over others draws upon social resources not available to subordinate agents. Nevertheless, those subject to power can mobilize other social resources in a contribution to power relations through resistance. In limiting power, resistance influences the outcome of power relations.
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The relationship between the self and the collective is discussed from the perspective of self-categorization theory. Self-categorization theory makes a basic distinction between personal and social identity as different levels of self-categorization. It shows how the emergent properties of group processes can be explained in terms of a shift in self perception from personal to social identity. It also elucidates how self-categorization varies with the social context. It argues that self-categorizing is inherently variable, fluid, and context dependent, as sedf-categories are social comparative and are always relative to a frame of reference. This notion has major implications for accepted ways of thinking about the self: The variability of self-categorizing provides the perceiver with behavioral and cognitive flexibility and ensures that cognition is always shaped by the social context in which it takes place.
Book
Andreas Wimmer argues that nationalist and ethnic politics have shaped modern societies to a far greater extent than has been acknowledged by social scientists. The modern state governs in the name of a people defined in ethnic and national terms. Democratic participation, equality before the law and protection from arbitrary violence were offered only to the ethnic group in a privileged relationship with the emerging nation-state. Depending on circumstances, the dynamics of exclusion took on different forms. Where nation building was 'successful', immigrants and 'ethnic minorities' are excluded from full participation; they risk being targets of xenophobia and racism. In weaker states, political closure proceeded along ethnic, rather than national lines and leads to corresponding forms of conflict and violence. In chapters on Mexico, Iraq and Switzerland, Wimmer provides extended case studies that support and contextualise this argument.
Article
David Beetham's book explores the legitimation of power both as an issue in political and social science theory and in relation to the legitimacy of contemporary political systems including its breakdown in revolution. 'An admirable text which is far reaching in its scope and extraordinary in the clarity with which it covers a wide range of material... One can have nothing but the highest regard for this volume.' - David Held, Times Higher Education Supplement ;'Beetham has produced a study bound to revolutionize sociological thinking and teaching... Seminal and profoundly original... Beetham's book should become the obligitory reading for every teacher and practitioner of social science.' - Zygmunt Bauman, Sociology
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In the first section of this paper I note a parallel between certain problems generated by Steven Lukes's `three-dimensional' view of power, and what I call the `paradox of emancipation' in certain traditions of Marxist thought. Lukes's critique of what he calls the `one' and `two-dimensional' views of power is next reviewed, and Lukes's own `three-dimensional' view subjected to analysis and criticism. Lukes's definition of power in terms of interests is identified as a major source of difficulty, and three distinct ways of constructing a distinction between `real' interests and `subjective' interests, or preferences are identified in Lukes's work. In the fourth section of the paper I present an alternative conception, or `view' of power which, I argue, sustains the essential features of Lukes's critique of the one- and two-dimensional views, but which, by severing the definitional tie between power and interests, avoids the value dependence of Lukes's own view of power. Finally, I make explicit a view of interests which runs counter to that which, I hold, Lukes, Connolly, et al. have in common with more orthodox political scientists. I go on to indicate the place of this concept in the formation and re-formation of personal and social identities, and briefly indicate its bearing on what I earlier called the `paradox of emancipation'.
Chapter
Power is a dirty word in our culture’s lexicon. Like sex and death, it is not considered an appropriate topic for polite conversation. And yet, like the facts of life and death, it is ubiquitous in human social life. This paradox is partly explained by our unwillingness to acknowledge the full impact of power differentials on our daily interactions. Acknowledging the impact of power would be to confront our own lack of control as a result of unequal power. As with sex and death, many people in Western culture (or at least those of us who are New Englanders) consequently prefer not to think about it. On a broader scale, the democratic dream is that all of us are equals. Acknowledging the existing power inequities therefore jeopardizes our most cherished shared illusions about the mechanisms of our society. Social psychologists, however, should not be so constrained, and indeed, should be intrigued by such a central feature of society, which is also such a strong motivator of people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior toward each other. This chapter develops a cognitive-motivational analysis of the impact of power, focusing on the powerless. As such, we will emphasize how power differentials constitute a social-structural form of control deprivation.
Article
This book is a social psychological inquiry into identity in modern society. Starts from the social psychological premise that identity results from interaction in the social world. Reviews and integrates the most influential strands of contemporary social psychology research on identity. Brings together North American and European perspectives on social psychology. Incorporates insights from philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, cultural studies, anthropology and sociology. Places social identity research in a variety of real-life social contexts.
Article
This article critiques the debate in political science among Robert Dahl, Peter Bachrach/Morton Baratz, and Steven Lukes over the meaning of power and the proper method for its study. The author argues that, their differences aside, these three views of power share a common problem, grounded in a misconception of the nature of social science, that leads them all to view power in terms of empirical causation. Drawing on recent arguments in the philosophy of science and social science, he challenges this "empiricist" perspective and offers instead a "realist" theory of power as socially structured and enduring capacities for action.
Article
The concept of false consciousness is reviewed from a historical perspective and discussed in light of recent theoretical advances in socialist and feminist political philosophy. False consciousness is defined as the holding of false beliefs that are contrary to one's social interest and which thereby contribute to the disadvantaged position of the self or the group. It is argued that considerable psychological evidence for false consciousness exists and that a thorough understanding of the phenomenon integrates several lines of research on the problem of political acquiescence. Six basic types of false consciousness are proposed: (1) Failure to perceive injustice and disadvantage, (2) Fatalism, (3) Justification of social roles, (4) False attribution of blame, (5) Identification with the oppressor, and (6) Resistance to change. Because the concept of false consciousness is likely to arouse suspicion because of its Marxian origins, several theoretical and methodological objections to the scientific study of false consciousness are raised and addressed.
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We conducted a field study in the context of the U.S. fat acceptance movement to examine two possible pathways to social movement participation. One pathway concerns the calculation of the costs and benefits of participation; the other concerns collective identification with a social movement organization (SMO). Multiple regression analysis confirmed that calculation and collective identification processes made unique contributions to the prediction of willingness to participate. We also found that both processes exert additive effects rather than interactive effects on willingness to participate. Moreover, mediational analyses suggest that the effect of identification with the SMO on willingness to participate is mediated by an inner obligation to behave as a "good" group member. Whereas the calculation pathway is interpreted in terms of instrumental involvement motivated by specific extrinsic rewards, the identification pathway seems to represent intrinsic involvement based on the internalization of group-specific behavioral standards.
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This controversial new look at democracy in a multicultural society considers the ideals of political inclusion and exclusion, and recommends ways to engage in democratic politics in a more inclusive way. Processes of debate and decision making often marginalize individuals and groups because the norms of political discussion are biased against some forms of expression. Inclusion and Democracy broadens our understanding of democratic communication by reflecting on the positive political functions of narrative, rhetorically situated appeals, and public protest. It reconstructs concepts of civil society and public sphere as enacting such plural forms of communication among debating citizens in large-scale societies. Iris Marion Young thoroughly discusses class, race, and gender bias in democratic processes, and argues that the scope of a polity should extend as wide as the scope of social and economic interactions that raise issues of justice. Today this implies the need for global democratic institutions. Young also contends that due to processes of residential segregation and the design of municipal jurisdictions, metropolitan governments which preserve significant local autonomy may be necessary to promote political equality. This latest work from one of the world's leading political philosophers will appeal to audiences from a variety of fields, including philosophy, political science, women's studies, ethnic studies, sociology, and communications studies.
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Two related assumptions are challenged: (1) that stereotypes are inaccurate by definition, and (2) that stereotypes function merely as fallacious rationalizations for outgroup antipathy. A review of the literature indicates that stereotypy is a multidimensional concept, that degree of accuracy is a relatively unexplored variable, and that stereotypy and prejudice are not synonymous terms. The metasociology of stereotype investigation is explored. It is suggested that the liberal sympathies of social scientists discourage a test of ethnic stereotype accuracy.
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This paper criticizes the ways in which `power', `interests', and related notions are used in the analysis of social relations. Two broad approaches to power analysis are considered. The first involves `capacity-outcome' conceptions in which power is defined in terms of the capacity of an agent to secure particular outcomes. The second involves more general usages in which power is supposed to be effective not only as regards the outcomes of particular struggles, but also in the determination of the conditions of struggle themselves by the systematic exclusion or suppression of certain interests. I argue that both approaches operate to foreclose serious analysis of the constitution of arenas of struggle and the forces active in them by means of gross oversimplification of the conditions in which struggles take place.
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In two experiments, the role of the accessibility of the individual self as a moderator variable in processing information about attractive or unattractive in-groups was examined. An indicator of category-based in-group representation served as the main dependent variable. In Experiment 1, the authors predicted and found an interaction between accessibility of the individual self and in-group attractiveness. People exhibited more category-based representations for unattractive than for attractive in-groups when accessibility was low, but the opposite trend was observed when accessibility was high. Experiment 2 showed that the difference in category-based representations of unattractive versus attractive in-groups, given low accessibility of the individual self: depends also on relative in-group size. Here, only majority members, but not minority members, showed the critical effect. The results are discussed in terms of group members' self-evaluation concerns.