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What Happens to People’s Identities When the Economy is Suffering or Flourishing?

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Peer-reviewed

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Report

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Authors

Abrams, Dominic 

Abstract

This paper considers some of the parameters that link economic and other ‘external’ changes to people’s sense of identity, and how identity bears on social and economic behaviour. Essentially, we propose that people’s identities can be considered in terms of their linkage to different levels of social structure – in terms of interpersonal relationships, small or local group memberships, and in terms of societal systems and organisations. Identity can become more or less engaged (linking in) with these levels and conditions can be conducive to cooperation, competition, or indifference. We consider and speculate about how economic (and other) conditions might relate to these different types of engagement, and the bidirectional implications of positive and negative economic (and other) changes and changes in identity. There are many perspectives on these questions in social sciences, including economic, sociological and anthropological, but these are beyond the scope of this review. Our perspective is predominantly framed by social psychological theory and research, in particular social identity theory, but we also offer our intuitions, accepting that no one perspective is complete and that the future cannot be foretold!

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