Running head: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY ON EVERYDAY LIFE 1
The Impact of Social Identity Theory on Everyday
Life Anthony Moore
Liberty University
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Abstract
Social identity is displayed all around in the form of social groups at school, to our everday
interactions at work and church. Social identity is a theory that as individuals, we take on the
mentality of the group that we associate with including their political, moral, and social views.
A few studies have been done exploring the effects of social identity theory on society. It has
been found that people will typically have a real or imagined inclusion in a group and will focus
on the negative aspects of other social groups in order to boost their self-esteem. Social identity
theory is also present in an individual’s political affiliation in the form of ridicule and lack of
positive support for the opposing party. From a Christian viewpoint it is hard to condone this
theory for a Christian because we are supposed to take our moral and social views from God. It
is however, okay to engage in some social identity in a group as long as that group embodies a
Christian perspective.
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Introduction
Social identity is defined as, “that part of an individual's self concept which derives from his
knowledge of his membership of a group or groups (Greene, 2004. P.137).” A simplified
definition of social identity theory is that an individual obtains their identity through social
interaction and peer group influence. There are two types of groups that pertain to social
identity, the in-group and the out-group. The in-group is the group that the individual belongs to,
and the out-group is the groups that the individual does not identify with. Social identity is
extremely important because it helps provide a sense of pride or high self-esteem based off of
what social group that we belong to. “Importantly, these social identifications are not based on
any formal group membership, but rather self-perceived membership in a particular group
(Greene, 2004.
P.138).” The real or imagined inclusion within a certain group will still affect a person’s social
identity. With the idea of social identity theory comes the reasoning about why society is divided
up into groups. In order for people to feel different from others they must compare themselves in
a positive way. People do this when they identify with their in-group, then try to find negative
traits with whatever out-group they are comparing themselves too. This results in elevated self-
esteem and in some cases self-esteem that is elevated to a dangerous self-absorbed level. An
example of social identity theory can be found in schools all across the globe. The common
comparison is two different groups found in each school known as the jocks, and the nerds. The
jocks tend to be physically fit, athletic, and usually are not the brightest people in school. The
nerds are usually more unathaletic, are fairly smart, but seem to have trouble fitting in. When the
jocks compare themselves to the nerds, they seek out negative aspects in the group such as their
under par physical performance and lack of social acceptance. From the nerds perspective, they
seek out the negative aspects in the jock’s group by looking at their underwhelming academic
performance. Both of these groups seek out negative aspects in each other in order to maintain
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positive self-esteem and feel like they belong somewhere. One other example of social identity
theory is that when I go to work there is a co-worker their that proceeds to take on the political
identity of other co-workers. He will talk to someone who is very liberal and agree with basically
everything they say while bashing conservatives. Other times if he is talking with someone
conservative he will agree with everything they say and bash the liberals. His whole political
identity is based off of his current coworker’s opinins and beliefs.
Article 1 Discussion
Beyond the Self: Social Identity,Altruism, and Political Participation explores how political
participation is impacted by social identity, altruism, and self-interest. The purpose is to discover
the real reasons for political participation whether it is altruism, social identification, or just plain
selfishness. The hypothesis states that, “Our core expectation is that altruists and social
identifiers will participate more than egoists—that is, individuals who are primarily self-
interested (Fowler and Cam, 2007. p. 814).” 350 subjects that attended a political science class
were randomly chosen from a public, western university and were told that if they participated in
a survey they would reveive extra credit in the course. 306 people chose to engage in the survey
that asked questions regarding their political attitudes and socioeconomic status. They then
participated in three dictator games which are a situation in which the subject is in control of
something that affects other people. These subjects were given 10 lottery tickets that had the
possibility of winning $100. They were then presented with three different scenarios in which
they were given two envelopes, one for themselves, and one for somebody else. It was then
stated in the first scenario that the envelope was for an anonymous individual, the second
scenario the envelope was for an individual that identified as Democrat, and the third scenario
the envelope was for an individual that identified as Republican. The subjects were then told that
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they could put as many lottery tickets as they wanted in the envelope for the other person and put
the remaining amount in their envelope. Results found that whichever individual (anonymous,
Democratic, Republican) the subjects identified with the most, they were the ones that would
receive the most lottery tickets. Subjects that identified with a certain party would tend to give
that party more tickets instead of keeping more for themselves, and the opposing party would get
less tickets while the subject kept more for themselves. This demonstrates social identity theory
by showing that whichever group the subject identified with, they received the most lottery
tickets. This indicates that people as a whole are more willing to participate, give, and engage in
their perceived social in-group than in any other groups.
Article 2 Discussion
Social Identity Theory and Party Identification researches and discusses the impact of
people’s social identity on their political or party affiliation. The purpose of this study is to
understand the relationship between the group that an individual identifies with and how they
identify politically. It was hypothesized that even though people may identify as socially
independent, they will still tend to lean towards either conservative or liberal in their political
affiliation. The study took 302 registered voters in Franklin County, Ohio that were randomly
selected who replied to a mail survey. The voter’s social identity was measured using the IDPG
scale. The IDPG scale measures social identity with a designated group through a series of 10
questions that assess the respondents' perceptions of shared identity and shared experiences with
the group (Greene, 2004. 141-142).” Everyone who responded to these 10 questions only
answered for their preferred political party. Included with the replies to the mail surveys was the
participants gender, age, income, race, and education. The results from this study found that the
greater the social identification with a political party, the greater the negative view of the
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opposing party. It was also found that, “As partisan social identity increased, respondents were
more likely to engage in partisan-oriented activities, such as attending rallies and wearing
buttons, as well as to vote for that party across elections (Greene, 2004. p. 148).” This basically
states that the more a person identified with the party socially, the more likely they were to
engage in party related activities. This study showed that when a person identified with one of
these parties, it caused them to reflect negatively on the other party and engage in more party
activities because they felt that they understood them.
Biblical Integration
The idea behind social identity theory is that you are identifying with a group. The
problem with this story from a biblical standpoint is that as Christians we are not supposed to
identify with the world or people in it, we are supposed to identify with Christ. In Romans 12:2
it says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.” This verse is stating that as Christians we need to break away from the world in order to
be more like Christ. The benefits of this is that other people can look at us and discern a
difference between us and the other people around us. We can reflect Christ to others through
out actions but will be unable to do so if we are taking on the social identity of a particular group
that we hang out with. Baker (2012) has stated that:
“Romans represents Paul's attempt to create a common ingroup identity between
estranged Judean and non-Judean Christ-followers. The goal, rather than force each
subgroup to forsake its own cultural identity, was to widen the scope of Christian group
identity so that it might encompass both (p. 135).”
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This quote demonstrates that even if we are in a particular in-group within Christianity, that does
not mean that we should shun or fight with out-groups that fall under the umbrella of
Christianity. Ephesians 4:24 says, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God
in true righteousness and holiness.” This verse essentially describes what we should do as new
followers of Christ. We should put off our old habits, beliefs, and identity that we have through
others, and adopt a Christ-like view. This does not mean we should not associate with people
that we knew before getting saved, it just means that they should see a big difference in us.
Instead of taking on the views of our social group that is around us, we should use the Bible to
guide our views. Baker states that in Corinthians, “some in Corinth were continuing to identify
primarily with key aspect of their Roman social identity rather than their ‘in Christ’ identity and
that this confusion over identity positions contributed to the problems within the community (p.
135).” Taking on the social identity of a group is somewhat okay if that groups views fall in line
with what the Bible says.
Conclusion
Social identity theory is when an individual takes on their identity through the group they
associate with, also known as an in-group. In the two studies above it was found that in study 1,
people are willing to participate in group activities, and give their time and money to the groups
cause because that is where they obtain their identity from. In study 2 they found that people
would reflect negatively on other groups that were not the same as their own. They did this in
order to feel more superior about themselves. From a biblical standpoint, the only social identity
that we should have is in Christ. When we get saved we should get rid of whatever social identity
that we picked up and identify with Christ. It is okay to socially identify with a group as long as
they have the same views as what the Bible says.
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References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2019). Social psychology (9th ed.).
New York, NY: Pearson.
Baker, C. A. (2012). Social Identity Theory and Biblical Interpretation. Biblical Theology
Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture, 42(3), 129-138.
doi:10.1177/0146107912452244
Fowler, J., & Kam, C. (2007). Beyond the self: Social identity, altruism, and political
participation. The Journal of Politics, 69(3), 813-827. doi:10.1111/j.1468-
2508.2007.00577.x
Greene, S. (2004). Social identity theory and party identification. Social Science
Quarterly, 85(1), 136-153. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/42955932
McLeod, S. (2008, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved April 10, 2018,
from https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
