Socio-structural characteristics of intergroup relations and identity management strategies: results from a field study in East Germany
✍ Scribed by Amélie Mummendey; Andreas Klink; Rosemarie Mielke; Michael Wenzel; Mathias Blanz
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 217 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0046-2772
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✦ Synopsis
In a ®eld study in East Germany, predictions by Social Identity Theory concerning relations among socio-structural characteristics of intergroup relations (stability, legitimacy, permeability) and identity management strategies (e.g. social competition) were examined. In general, East Germans were expected to consider their status position as inferior compared to West Germans. Moreover, depending on whether they regard such a status dierence as legitimate or illegitimate, as stable or unstable, and whether they perceive group boundaries as permeable or impermeable, East German participants should dier with respect to identity management strategies such as change of status relations, change of categorization, change of comparison dimension, change of comparison object and change of group membership. Five hundred and seventeen participants from dierent regions of East Germany completed a questionnaire on various aspects of life satisfaction. A path model including stability, legitimacy and permeability as predictors, ingroup identi®cation as mediator and identity management strategies as criteria was tested. Results are mainly in line with assumptions on main eects derived from Social Identity Theory. However, some extensions and clari®cations with respect to assimilation situations seem to be adequate. In addition, results show that ingroup identi®cation can be regarded as a powerful mediator between perceived intergroup relations and identity management strategies.