On the role of a social identity analysis in articulating structure and collective action: the 2011 riots in Tottenham and Hackney

Theoretical perspectives that give primacy to ideological or structural determinism have dominated criminological analysis of the 2011 English ‘riots’. This paper provides an alternative social psychological perspective through detailed empirical analysis of two of these riots. We utilise novel forms of data to build triangulated accounts of the nature of the events and explore the perspectives of participants. We assert these riots cannot be adequately understood merely in terms pre-existing social understandings and political realities and that identity based interactional crowd dynamics were critically important. The paper demonstrates the value of the social identity approach in providing criminological theory with a richer and deeper perspective on these complex social phenomena

Les dynamiques identitaires et le processus d'intégration européenne

Cet article présente quelques réflexions psychosociologiques sur la construction d'une identité européenne et sur ses relations avec les identités nationales. Tout d'abord, quelques commentaires introductifs serviront à montrer l'importance des identités collectives dans les relations internationales en général, ainsi que dans le processus d'intégration européenne en particulier. Par la suite, nous nous concentrerons sur la question des identités nationales. Notre analyse mettra en évidence le caractère construit des identités nationales ainsi que la dimension fonctionnelle de ces constructions. En un troisième temps, nous nous pencherons sur le statut spécial des identités nationales dans le panorama des identités collectives. Nous évoquerons quelques-unes des raisons pour lesquelles celles-ci ont connu un succès important et jouissent aujourd'hui d'une importance particulière dans la structuration de notre monde social, et pourquoi elles sont souvent l'objet d'un investissement plus intense que bon nombre d'autres types d'identités. Enfin, nous ouvrirons quelques pistes de réflexions sur les conséquences de ce parcours pour la construction de l'Europe et d'une identité européenne. L'objectif global de cette contribution est de développer un cadre théorique qui permette d'appréhender les processus d'identification collective, et de souligner les conséquences pratiques et politiques des définitions identitaires particulières qui sont ou pourraient être utilisées dans le processus d'intégration européenne.This contribution provides a social psychological perspective on the construction of an European identity and its relationships with national identities. We start by demonstrating the importance of collective identities to international relations in general and to the process of European integration in particular. We then focus on the question of national identities. Our analysis emphasizes the constructed nature of national identities as well as the functional dimension of these constructions. Next, we account for the special status of national identities within the range of collective identities. We address some of the reasons for their past and continuing importance in structuring the social world and the reasons why people invest so much in national identities in contrast to many other types of identity. Finally, we point to some further issues which arise from our argument and which have consequences for the construction of Europe and of an European identity. The overall purpose of our contribution is to develop a theoretical understanding of the processes of collective identification and to underline the practical and political consequences of the particular constructions of identity which are or which might be used in the process of European integration

Recognising and understanding collective resilience in crowds of survivors

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'Flying while Muslim': Citizenship and Misrecognition in the Airport

This research was funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research and a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.Contemporary analyses of citizenship emphasise the importance of being able to occupy public space in a manner that does not compromise one’s sense of self. Moreover, they foreground individuals’ active engagement with others (e.g., being concerned about others) and the active exercise of one’s rights. We explore such issues through considering the psychological and social significance of having one’s various self-definitions mis-recognised in everyday social interactions. We do so through reporting interview and focus group data obtained from Scottish Muslims concerning their experience of surveillance at airports. Focussing on their accounts of how they orient to others’ assumptions about Muslim passengers, we consider what this means for our participants’ ability to act on terms that they recognise as their own and for their citizenship behaviours. Our analysis is organised in two sections. First, we examine the strategies people use to avoid painful encounters inside the airport. These include changes in micro-behaviours designed to avert contact, and where this was not possible, identity performances that are, in various ways, inauthentic. Second, we examine citizenship-related activities and how these may be curtailed in the airport. These include activities that entail the individual reaching out and making positive connections with others (e.g., through helping others) and exercising the right to criticise and complain about one’s treatment. Our analyses highlight the psychological and social consequence of identity misrecognition, and how this impacts on individuals’ abilities to act in terms of their own valued identifications and enact citizenship behaviours.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Meta-Milgram:An Empirical Synthesis of the Obedience Experiments

Milgram's famous experiment contained 23 small-sample conditions that elicited striking variations in obedient responding. A synthesis of these diverse conditions could clarify the factors that influence obedience in the Milgram paradigm. We assembled data from the 21 conditions (N = 740) in which obedience involved progression to maximum voltage (overall rate 43.6%) and coded these conditions on 14 properties pertaining to the learner, the teacher, the experimenter, the learner-teacher relation, the experimenter-teacher relation, and the experimental setting. Logistic regression analysis indicated that eight factors influenced the likelihood that teachers continued to the 450 volt shock: the experimenter's directiveness, legitimacy, and consistency; group pressure on the teacher to disobey; the indirectness, proximity, and intimacy of the relation between teacher and learner; and the distance between the teacher and the experimenter. Implications are discussed

Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution?

publication-status: Acceptedtypes: ArticleThis is a post print version of an article published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2012, 35 (6), pp 438-439 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X12001252 Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012For most of the history of prejudice research, negativity has been treated as its emotional and cognitive signature, a conception that continues to dominate work on the topic. By this definition, prejudice occurs when we dislike or derogate members of other groups. Recent research, however, has highlighted the need for a more nuanced and ‘inclusive’ (Eagly 2004) perspective on the role of intergroup emotions and beliefs in sustaining discrimination. On the one hand, several independent lines of research have shown that unequal intergroup relations are often marked by attitudinal complexity, with positive responses such as affection and admiration mingling with negative responses such as contempt and resentment. Simple antipathy is the exception rather than the rule. On the other hand, there is mounting evidence that nurturing bonds of affection between the advantaged and the disadvantaged sometimes entrenches rather than disrupts wider patterns of discrimination. Notably, prejudice reduction interventions may have ironic effects on the political attitudes of the historically disadvantaged, decreasing their perceptions of injustice and willingness to engage in collective action to transform social inequalities. These developments raise a number of important questions. Has the time come to challenge the assumption that negative evaluations are inevitably the cognitive and affective hallmarks of discrimination? Is the orthodox concept of prejudice in danger of side-tracking, if not obstructing, progress towards social justice in a fuller sense? What are the prospects for reconciling a prejudice reduction model of change, designed to get people to like one another more, with a collective action model of change, designed to ignite struggles to achieve intergroup equality

I know who I am, but who do they think I am? Muslim perspectives on encounters with airport authorities

In this paper we report an analysis of individual and group interviews with thirty-eight Scottish Muslims concerning their encounters with authority – especially those at airports. Our analysis shows that a key theme in interviewees’ talk of their experience in this context concerns the denial and misrecognition of valued identities such as being British, being respectable and being Muslim. One reason why such experiences are so problematic concerns the denial of agency associated with being positioned in terms that are not one's own. The implications of these findings for understanding the dynamics of intergroup relations are discussed

Turning the Analytic Gaze on “Us”:The Role of Authorities in the Alienation of Minorities

What leads to the alienation and political (dis)engagement of minority groups is a critical question for political psychologists. Recently, research has focused attention on one particular minority group – Muslims in the West – and on what promotes “anti-Western” attitudes and behavior. Typically, the research focus is on factors internal to the individuals or the minority communities concerned. However, we argue this overlooks the ways in which the perspective and practices of the majority group affect minority group members’ understandings of who they are and how they stand in relation to the majority. In this paper we examine the social-psychological processes through which authorities’ surveillance and intervention affects minority group members’ sense of themselves, their relationship to authorities and the wider community. In doing so, we discuss a number of hitherto neglected psychological processes that may contribute to alienation-namely, processes of misrecognition, disrespect, and humiliation. We draw on research conducted with British Muslims to illustrate our argument for widening our analytic focus to give a more dynamic account of alienation and (dis)engagement