Social Identity Theory

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by Bas van Heur1 view·Updated May 23, 2022
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  1. So, Ukraine as a country gained its independence from Russia.
  2. Then still the USSR following the 1991 referendum,
  3. in which 91% of Ukrainians voted for independence.
  4. In the aftermath of his decision,
  5. it became important for Ukraine to shape its own national identity
  6. in order to differentiate itself from Russia
  7. and therefore justify its existence. Independence from Russian control
  8. according to Kuzio of a process of shaping a
  9. national identity is almost identical to the process described
  10. in Taj Val's social identity, fearing
  11. social identity theory contains free stages. These being categorization,
  12. identification and comparison
  13. social identity theory posits
  14. that individuals seek to maximize their self esteem
  15. in order to attain this greater self esteem.
  16. Individuals engage in social comparisons with others in their environment.
  17. In order to do this,
  18. individuals create categories for observations of others and their environment.
  19. These categories can consist of varying things like religion,
  20. language, nationality,
  21. gender, race,
  22. ethnicity,
  23. et cetera.
  24. Once these categories are created,
  25. the individual places of himself and others in a number of groups and categories
  26. for the assigning of these groups and categories,
  27. individuals form their own identity
  28. which is construed as an individual's membership or lack thereof.
  29. Within certain groups or categories.
  30. In order to maintain self esteem,
  31. individuals will look favorably towards those who are part
  32. of the same groups and categories as themselves,
  33. also called the in group.
  34. Well, those who are outside of these groups and every words,
  35. the out group are regarded unfavorably
  36. in order to raise their own self esteem. People tend to develop prejudicial
  37. discriminatory and stereotypical views of those in the out group.
  38. These prejudicial views can lead to friction between being group and the
  39. out group and make communication difficult and creates a breakdown and trust,
  40. thus leading to conflict
  41. returning to the shaping of a Ukrainian national identity
  42. because of their shared history, similar cultures and religious practices,
  43. Ukraine is left with only a handful of categories which
  44. lend itself towards differentiation from Russia as an out group.
  45. The most prominent of these are ethnic
  46. and linguistic distinctions between Russia and Ukraine.
  47. The problem with these distinctions and categorization as a whole
  48. is that it is subjective and depends on the way in which.