discussion

Tajfel and Turner (in chapter two of our reader) give us the following definition of Social Identity Theory: "SIT proposes that individuals make sense of their social environment by categorizing themselves and others into groups that can be contrasted with others" (Oksanen et al., 2014). SIT brings order to chaos, you might say, in that individuals define themselves as being different from everyone else.

Considering what we have read about the perpetrators of group violence, how do you suppose that it is that people make the leap from their own social identity to group violence? What social and psychological mechanisms are at work that would go from simple categorization to overt violence?