Dr. Tajuddeen A. Williams

Using Social Identity Theory

· Personal Essays

Everyone defines themselves are having an individual identity, but we also define ourselves by our social identity. For instance, I am a student, and I identify myself as such. If someone were to insult students, I would more than likely take offense to that insult. In 1968, Tajfel identified social identity theory as “that part of an individual's self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership in a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership” (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63). We understand that prejudice is the negative evaluation that someone has towards a group or individuals who are part of a group membership (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). For prejudice to existing, groups need to exist (Tajfel, 1970). Just the act of being grouped will eventually lead to prejudice against another competing group (Tajfel, 1978).

We understand that when someone is prejudiced, he or she have a negative evaluation of a group or individuals who are part of a group membership. Prejudice comes in all shapes and forms. When we take a look at the history of prejudice, we see that prejudice has come into play in women who are paid less than men, people with a mental illness who are deemed to be dangerous, and those who refuse to vote for women or blacks just because of their status (Williams & Williams-Morris, 2010). These are group-based differences that define how they are perceived by the in-group. Prejudice is not just being mean to someone or another group just because of a group membership. However, prejudice may also be inherent to the systems in which we live. In today’s terms due to the racial climate in which we live, those who are in the majority have little to fear from the police in New York when it comes to the “stop and frisk” law versus those who are in the racial minority (Gelman, Fagan, & Kiss, 2007). Prejudice does not need any conflict to happen; it can thrive in the absence of it altogether (Zárate, Garcia, Garza, & Hitlan, 2004).

Bert Williams was a product of his society. He was someone who gained infamy and riches by portraying his race as the way Whites stereotyped them to be (Forbes, 2004). Even in his quest to leave blackface, he found it difficult to make a living outside of something that he had done for long. The prejudicial attitudes that were prevalent at the time did not come about by him doing the minstrel show. These types of shows proliferated the racial stereotypes of Black people, who, at the time were still enslaved well until after the time they were freed (Powell, 2011).

The stereotypes that Bert Williams acted out is an example of ingroup-outgroup norms that was a part of society (Lemons, 1977). Due to the lack of education among Blacks after having come out of slavery, many were uneducated and had few means to make money outside of manual labor. Moreover, unfortunately, many of the stereotypes were based off an over-exaggeration of real-world circumstances. For instance, sex was just as integral to Black society as it was to Whites but was often used to demean Blacks who chose to procreate. We like thinking well about ourselves and the groups to which we belong. Research has shown that ingroup biases are a way for groups to bolster their self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

Discrimination against Blacks was the result of how Whites compared themselves to Blacks during that time. Ingroup comparison was easy for Whites since the prevailing attitudes of Whites concerning Blacks was that they were lazy, uneducated, and thieves. By discriminating against Blacks, it was a way for Whites to bolster their self-image. Even until the death of Bert Williams, Blacks lacked the same status as Whites. They were viewed as being three-fifths of a person and deemed to have lower intellectual capabilities by those who enslaved them centuries earlier.

As we understand it from the research, prejudice is a way to maintain self-esteem. Also, as a result, the silver lining between prejudice and self-esteem is that we may be able to reduce prejudice by just increasing self-esteem. Fein and Spencer (1997) were able to do an experiment similarly to their experiment done in previous years on self-image maintenance as a result of prejudice. The investigation led to reduced anti-Jewish prejudice by. This was accomplished by increasing the students’ self-esteem by way of addressing the source of insecurity. If we can address the self-esteem issues that may be plaguing the ingroup, that could be used to reduce outgroup discrimination.

References

  • Fein, S., & Spencer, S. J. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 31–44. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.31 ↩
  • Forbes, C. F. (2004). Dancing with “racial feet”: Bert Williams and the performance of blackness. Theatre Journal, 56(4), 603–625. http://doi.org/10.1353/tj.2004.0164 ↩
  • Gelman, A., Fagan, J., & Kiss, A. (2007). An Analysis of the New York City Police Department's ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Policy in the Context of Claims of Racial Bias. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 102(479), 813–823. http://doi.org/10.1198/016214506000001040 ↩
  • Lemons, J. S. (1977). Black stereotypes as reflected in popular culture, 1880-1920. American Quarterly, 29(1), 102. http://doi.org/10.2307/2712263 ↩
  • Powell, V. (2011). A social identity framework of American hip-hop cultural performance. Social Identities, 17(4), 459–476. http://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2011.587302 ↩
  • Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American. ↩
  • Tajfel, H. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. London: Academic Press. ↩1 ↩2
  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, 33(47), 74. ↩1 ↩2
  • Williams, D. R., & Williams-Morris, R. (2010). Racism and mental health: The African American experience. Ethnicity and Health, 5(3-4), 243–268. http://doi.org/10.1080/713667453 ↩
  • Zárate, M. A., Garcia, B., Garza, A. A., & Hitlan, R. T. (2004). Cultural threat and perceived realistic group conflict as dual predictors of prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 99–105. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1031(0300067-2 ↩

← All posts