Social Identity Theory

Question 1

Describe social identity theory

Answer 1

States that individuals are prejudice can come about through:
Social Categorisation
- Seeing oneself as part of a group
- The ingroup is the group to which we see ourselves as belonging
- The outgroup comprises anyone who is not part of the ingroup

Social identification
- Individual adopts beliefs, values and attitudes of the groups to which they see themselves belonging

Social Comparison
- An individual may boost their self-esteem through making comparisons between the ingroup and outgroup

Question 2

Supporting research?

Answer 2

P- Tajfel’s (1970) minimal groups study supports
E - Found that minimal groups of boys awarded their own group with points instead of sharing
E - Demonstrates that we have in-group favouritism

Question 3

Criticism of supporting research?

Answer 3

P - Tajfel’s (1970) minimal groups study lacks generalisability
E - The sample used 14-15 year old school boys from Bristol
E - This cannot be generalised to groups of people who aren’t at school or are ages such as 40+ from different cultures

Question 4

Application?

Answer 4

P - Yes
E - It highlights how social identity is a perception not a fact through believing you belong to a group
E - And so strategies can tackle discrimination with this in mind through getting people to expand their sense of identity to reduce social comparison and keep self-esteem high

Question 5

Different theory?

Answer 5

P- Sherif’s realistic conflict theory
E- RCT claims that prejudice is produced by competition and happens when there is (or seems to be) a scarcity of resources like food, money, jobs or status
E- Accounts for the violent behaviour towards our group which SIT doesn’t