The Role of Social Identity in Group Dynamics

The identity of a person starts developing at a very young age. It is a part of our development process. The process of identity formation begins with the idea of an infant to differentiate themselves from their external world. Then comes the development of I-concept, where the child outgrows their
understanding of people, and accommodates the difference between ‘girls’ and ‘boys’. Likewise, every segment of one’s identity contributes to the formation of their personality, which in turn, influences their behavior in every facet of their life. Similarly, the social identity of a person has a wide range of influences on the person, especially in group dynamics.

Introduction

The Social Identity Theory was postulated by Henri Tajfel and John Turner (1979), according to which, one’s affiliation to their respective social groups (like family, school, peer, playgroups, etc) defined a part of their ‘I’-concept. In other words, the thought processes, and emotions, that underlie the interpersonal communication between the different members of the various social groups, coming from diverse backgrounds, contribute a lot to the formation of the person’s identity as a member of those respective groups and therefore, as a social being. Tajfel and Turner proposed that a person’s sense of self is based on respect for their identification with such social groups. For example,

• Children learn etiquettes, formal and informal manners, dressing sense, etc from their family members.
• They imbibe the practice of rituals from their religious and cultural groups.
• Learning the acts of respect, humility, discipline, morality and most importantly, knowledge on different subjects from their school also adds to their social identity.
• Peer groups and playgroups help in cognitive, physical and other forms of development.
• Family and other social groups help in learning class-based differences.

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The social identity of an individual is formed through three distinct processes mainly:

1. Social categorisation: where the person learns to categorize different social groups, based on religion, race, culture, location, economic class, and the like.
2. Social identification: where the person learns to identify themselves with specific groups, also known as the in-groups. On the other hand, the groups to which the person doesn’t owe any belongingness are called out-groups.
3. Social comparison: refers to the ability of the person to compare different groups, be it intra-group comparison or inter-group comparison, based on the resources available to them, their practices, their roots, beliefs, ancestral origin, and the like.

Role of social identity in group dynamics.

Every individual member of a group has their I-concept, which exists as an amalgamation of the spectrum of identities they hold, including their social identity. Thus, one’s social identity plays a huge role in altering the group dynamics, in terms of the basic aspects of the social group, and the interpersonal relationships between the members essentially. It is noteworthy that the social identity of a person is most influential when the person him/herself considers the group to be important, and finds the identity of being a member of it, to be a significant part of their self-concept.

The following aspects of a group are affected by one’s social identity, in the group dynamics:

Group Norms:

Every group, be it that of a religion, caste, class, political, ethnic, social class, peer, co-curricular, or interest-based, has their own set of norms or rules that define its existence. It is the rules, both prescriptive and normative, that help the group to stand out from the other out-groups. Every person, who is affiliated with the group, is expected to abide by the norms under all conditions to retain the membership of the group. Such actions become consolidated as a part of their self-concept.

For example, a religious group that believes that keeping weekly fasts will lengthen the lives of their husbands/future husbands (FYI, many religious groups do believe in this concept), will promote it to be a personal standard among its members. Similarly, the person’s values, like respect for rituals, and understanding of what is justified and what is not influence the extent to which they will accept the norms of the group wholly.

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Group Cohesiveness:

Cohesiveness refers to the extent to which the members of the group feel bonded to one another. The greater the identification of the members, with the group, the greater would be the group cohesiveness. In that respect, cohesiveness would be greater if the members tend to take responsibility in the group, intend to direct the course of action of the group members towards a more favourable outcome or try to spread their political, social and personal beliefs among the other members of the in-group with the motive to intensify the existing cohesiveness.

However, if the person finds difficulty fitting into the social group, then their bonding with the other members of the group would also be weak, with little or least concern towards the welfare of the group. It is a typical observation that a person who doesn’t identify with a group, won’t contribute to the cohesiveness of the group. For example, a person who doesn’t feel connected to his/her family, won’t be able to feel the bond with the family members, nor will the family be able to include that person in their collaborative decision-making. Both the person and the family will feel distant from each other, affecting the group dynamics.

Conformity:

Conformity is when a person is accepting or abiding by something, from within, without feeling any compulsion. This is different from ‘obedience‘ where we abide by the sayings of an authority figure whom we consider or are taught to consider more powerful than us. Thus, conformity results from intrinsic acceptance and awareness of the present situation of the person. The stronger the sense of one’s social identity, the stronger would be the sense of conformity towards that respective social group.

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In other words, it is the act of accepting the rules and regulations of the group, be they formal or informal, and directing their behaviour in the respective direction. For say, if I identify with my respective group(s), then accepting and abiding by their rules, schemes, notions, beliefs, values and policies would come inherently to me, with no pressure imposed. A classic example of this is when people support their favoured political parties and ideologies, by looking at their preferred candidate and not at what work they are doing or what welfare they are bringing.

Deviance:

The aspect of social deviance can be negatively correlated with that of conformity. That is, the greater the deviance of a person from the expectations of their social group, the lower would be their conformity. Deviance occurs when the person is unable to align their self-concept with the values and practices of their respective social group. For example, if an educated, socially aware person refuses to participate in superstitious religious practices, or adhere to events like child marriages, honour killings, punishments for inter-caste activities and the like, then it is being deviant from their social identification with the group. It thus be stated, that if the person’s sense of social identity is not strongly integrated into their sense of self, then it will lead to deviant behaviours, which don’t follow the existing social norms.

Interpersonal relationships:

Interpersonal relationships shared among the members of the in-group are primary to the study of group dynamics. The nature of interpersonal relationships is very much dependent on the self-concept that every person carries and brings into the social situation. It would be easier to explain the same by drawing a scenario. Let’s say, that there are 5 people in a group: one with a radical mindset, an introvert, an extrovert, a selfish person and a carefree, careless person.

Read More: The Psychology of Self-Perception

Our social identity is an inseparable part of our identity as a person. We cannot overlook or ignore it. Nor can we make it the representative of our complete self. But it is extremely significant in explaining who we are as a person. Our identity in a group not only influences the group dynamics but also affects personal factors like language development, belief system, morality, ethics, ideologies to follow, and the idea of what is acceptable and what is not.

A research study in the Cambridge University Press 1982, by John J Gumperz, has revealed that the integration of social and racial influences as a consequence of inter-group contact, can eventually reinforce prevalent social distension and ethnic stereotypes among communities and other groups. This factor is very much responsible for creating the difference between in-group and out-group inter-group and intra-group relationships. This theory also postulated the importance of verbal exchange and community phenomena in developing one social identity.