Social identity theory: past achievements, current problems and future challenges

This article presents a critical review of Social Identity Theory Its major contributions to the study of inter`roup relations are discussed\ focusin`on its powerful explanations of such phenomena as in`roup bias\ responses of subordinate `roups to their unequal status position\ and intra`roup homo`eneity and stereotypin`[ In addition\ its stimulative role for theoretical elaborations of the Contact Hypothesis as a strate`y for improvin`inter`roup attitudes is noted[ Then ᵥe issues which have proved problematic for Social Identity Theory are ident! iₑd the relationship between `roup identication and in`roup biasᵗhe self!esteem hypoth! esisᵖositivene`ative asymmetry in inter`roup discriminationᵗhe effects of inter`roup similarityᵃnd the choice of identity strate`ies by low!status `roups In a third section a future research a`enda for the theory is sketched out\ with ᵥe lines of enquiry noted as beinp articularly promisin` expandin`the concept of social identityᵖredictin`comparison choice in inter`roup settin`sⁱncorporatin`affect into the theoryᵐana`in`social identities in multicultural settin`sᵃnd inte`ratin`implicit and explicit processes[ The article concludes with some remarks on the potential applications of social identity principles[ Copyri`ht 1999 John Wiley + Sons\ Ltd[ New centuries*and new millennia even more so*often prompt re~ections on how far we have come and how far "and where# we have yet to go[ I want to use the opportunity provided by this Agenda 1999 series to engage in such a reappraisal of one of social psychology|s pre!eminent theoretical perspectives\ Social Identity Theory "SIT#[ I use the word pre!eminent| advisedly because there can be no question that social identity concepts are widely diused and extensively employed as explanatory tools throughout our discipline[ This can be seen from the frequency of references to SIT and related topics in our major journals which seem to have increased linearly over the past twenty years "Abrams + Hogg\ 0887Brown + Capozza\ 1999#\ from the popularity of {social identity| as key words in conference proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic "e[g[ meetings of the European Association of Experimental