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Recent critiques of the identity literature have bemoaned the lack of clarity in conceptualizations of identity. R. W. Connell's (1987) theory of practice and Dorothy Smith's (/987, pp. 88–9 7) notion of ‘the everyday as problematic’ provide the foundation for articulating the construct of identity practices. Identity practices refer to the routine actions and ways of thinking, as well as the representations of those acts and thoughts, that enable people to claim collective identities. Although identity practices mark group membership, they also signal marginality to or exclusion from other groups. This paper explores the importance of understanding identity practices at micro levels of interaction as well as macro-level structures and dominant culture narratives. The specific empirical focus-on German Jewish immigrants who fled Nazi Germany and arrived in the United States by 1945—enables an interrogation of the meanings associated with national identity practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social identity is a concept that has been invented and reinvented across the social and behavioral science disciplines to provide a critical link between the psychology of the individual and the structure and function of social groups. This paper reviews the various definitions of social identity as it is used in different theoretical frameworks, drawing distinctions among person-based identities, relational (role-based) identities, group-based identities, and collective identities. The implications of these different conceptualizations of social identity for political psychology are discussed, with a call for integrative theory that draws on al/four definitions interactively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern democratic societies, one of the main roles of education is to promote critical thinking and open‐mindedness. However, this objective can sometimes be seen as clashing in many societies with another one of education's primary objectives—to inculcate in the younger generation a set of common values and beliefs that reinforces collective identity. The current article examines the tension between these two educational goals—fostering open‐mindedness and critical‐thinking skills, on the one hand, and promoting closed‐minded national identity, on the other hand, in the context of intractable conflicts. In particular, we offer an analysis of the unique challenges of nurturing open‐minded and critical thinking among students in the presence of processes and content common in education systems of conflict‐ridden societies. These challenges are discussed in relation to the role that open‐mindedness and critical thinking could play in promoting peace‐building processes were they not hindered by nationalistic educational approaches designed to ensure unwavering support of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, the concept of identity has become increasingly central in the social psychology of protest. Collective identity, politicized collective identity, dual identity, and multiple identities are concepts that help to understand and describe the social psychological dynamics of protest. In this article, I theorize about identity processes in the context of protest participation: how group identification establishes the link between social identity and collective identity, how multiple identities and dual identities influence protest participation, and how collective identity politicizes and radicalizes. I will illustrate my argument with results from research into collective action participation among farmers in the Netherlands and Spain, Turkish, and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands and New York, South African citizens, and participants in street demonstrations conducted by my research group at VU-University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radical activist organizations face the complex task of managing their identity so as to draw political attention but also to appear legitimate and thus gain public support. In this article we develop a picture of the identities of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ( SSCS) members, a group mostly known for their direct action against whaling, via a thematic analysis of material from the SSCS website and interviews with SSCS members. In online commentary, founder Captain Paul Watson establishes several deliberately paradoxical notions of who the Sea Shepherds are. We relate these identity statements to interviews with core activists to examine how they manage the identity conflicts resulting from the group identity, such as being seen as 'pirates' and 'hard lined vegans.' We found that SSCS positions themselves as a diverse and unstructured organization, yet distinctively passionate and willing to take action where others will not. The implications of this research are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the constraints and conflicts around political activist identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current project investigated affective and strategic determinants of participation in collective actions by taking a multidimensional approach to collective identity (see Cameron, 2004 ) and investigating rational decision-making processes. A field study was conducted during an important student strike within the Canadian province of Quebec. One hundred and eighty four students attending the province's postsecondary francophone institutions participated in the study. Path modeling was used to investigate two channels to collective action participation. A direct path involved the affective dimensions of identification. An indirect strategic path revealed that pro-action arguments allowed individuals to derive instrumental value, which in turn led them to participate in collective actions. This indirect influence only occurred at higher self-control. The results and their implications for understanding participation in collective actions during social movements are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the assumption that a sense of collective identity stimulates participation in collective action. Contextual circumstances supposedly make a collective identity more salient and compel people to act as members of the group; protest participation is more likely among people with a strong collective identity. Group identification and participation in identity organizations were used as indicators of collective identity in a study of 248 farmers from Galicia (Spain) and 167 farmers from the Netherlands. The farmers were interviewed three times at intervals of 1 year. The longitudinal design also allowed a test of causality. A sense of collective identity appeared to stimulate preparedness to take part in farmers' protest. Action preparedness leads to action participation, which in turn appears to foster collective identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the intersections and tensions between two collective identities, those of class and gender, for working-class women involved in supporting the 1989–1990 strike against Pittston Coal Group in southwestern Virginia. In the case of this year-long (and ultimately successful) strike, women were organized by United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) staff in strike support activities, but they also sought to organize themselves as women. The tensions between their identity as members of the working class and their identity as women are revealed by examining their forms of activism, their relationship with the UMWA, the divisions between groups of activist women, and the articulation ofwomen's involvement in the strike. The experiences of these women are briefly compared with women's activism in the I 984–1985 British Coal strike. The article concludes by arguing that collective identity is best understood as it emerges in response to specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]