The Influence Of Family And Social Identity Theory

A person has several selves that correspond to different group memberships. Various social contexts may trigger an individual to think, feel and act on the basis of his or her personal, family, or national “level of self”. Social Identity Theory was introduced by the late Henry Tajfel who has received considerable recognition for the work he has done in shaping European social psychology (Dumont, 46). This theory focuses on group behavior and is defined as a set of concepts addressing intergroup relations and social categorization. In this research synopsis, I will be examining the influence of family as a small group. From the moment we are born there exists the most basic social unit: a family (Gastil, 4). The interactions that you have with

In Bobbie Harro’s, The Cycle of Socialization he explains that there are categories that we attribute to our social identity. This involves gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, economic class, and ability/disability status (Adams, 45). Using these categories, we are trained specifically on how to act out our identity in front of people. Harro created a cycle starting off with the beginning of our life. Before we are even born, we had no choice in choosing our own identity. This first step in the cycle gave us no control over the decision of who we are. There is already an existing structure in place for us when we are born and we have had nothing to do with constructing it (Adams, 47). We start to move on towards the influence of our family on our own social identity. Our first socialization began with the people we love and care for the most. Consider the family as a small group, a family is a very complex group because families vary. An individual’s self-concept is derived from his or her knowledge of membership of a social group (or groups) including the value and emotional significance of being a member of a certain group/groups where in this case is a family (Gastil, 5). Who we think we are is a

We have a need to simplify this data by developing an image of people which we call stereotypes (Stets, 14). Stereotypes exist to help us perceive and interpret reality and we use it to characterize people based on a few attributes that have been learned at a young age. In class, we spoke a lot about how our family life is like and how groups in general can be either harmonious or dysfunctional. The clear distinction between the two types is that a harmonious group deals with conflict through love, emotional support, and encouragement form one another. A dysfunctional group can be described as the polar opposite of a harmonious group (Gastil, 171). The class’ notions of harmony however varied from the fact that every group is different and what one person may view as harmonious might be viewed differently by another person. Francis said that to him a harmonious family is a group that you can speak to about anything without being judged even if it’s negative. Alyse mentioned in class that family life should be less of how it is portrayed and more of how you feel as an individual and as a member of that group. When using our membership in a family, we can identify people who may have lived in a harmonious family based on how they interact with other groups. If they deal with conflict in a more positive and encouraging manner, they might be viewed as having a