I Belong, Therefore I Am

Our very sense of self, of who we are, is very much dependent on the tribes to which we belong.

According to psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner, we have a tendency to form shared ‘social identities’. This theory suggests that people have an inbuilt tendency to categorize themselves into one or more in-groups, building a part of their identity on the basis of membership of that group and enforcing boundaries with other groups.

For instance, I am a Catholic, Labor Party supporting, Western Australian. These tribal memberships will influence what actions I take and also say quite a lot about me as an individual.

Tajfel and Turner’s theory was based on studies in which participants were divided arbitrarily into two groups, based on trivial and almost completely irrelevant basis. The participants did not know other members of the group, and had no reason to expect that they would interact with them in the future. Yet members of both groups began to identify themselves with their group, preferring other members of their group and favoring them with rewards that maximized their own group’s outcomes!

We have just witnessed an example of this ‘social identity’ being played out on a very grand scale with the Beijing Olympics.

Millions of Australians, and many, many more people around the world, tuned in to watch their teams compete on the world stage. And for what? Small pieces of gold, silver or bronze? I’d suggest not. They watched, in part, to see if their tribe would win.

The strength of the Chinese team was frequently equated with the growing strength and power of the Chinese people. Not least by the Chinese themselves.

In a way, the ritualised warfare of politics is extended to the national stage via sports. To my mind it is far better than the alternative!

References:

Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American, 223, 96-102. homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.sturt/tajfel.htm