Social Identity Complexity
Sonia Roccas
The Open University of Israel
Marilynn B.
Brewer
Department of Psychology
Ohio State University
In this article, we introduce the concept of social identity complexity—a new theoretical construct that refers to an...
More
Social Identity Complexity
Sonia Roccas
The Open University of Israel
Marilynn B.
Brewer
Department of Psychology
Ohio State University
In this article, we introduce the concept of social identity complexity—a new theoretical construct that refers to an individual’s subjective representation of the interrelationships among his or her multiple group identities.
Social identity complexity reflects the degree of overlap perceived to exist between groups of which a person is
simultaneously a member.
When the overlap of multiple ingroups is perceived to be
high, the individual maintains a relatively simplified identity structure whereby memberships in different groups converge to form a single ingroup identification.
When a
person acknowledges, and accepts, that memberships in multiple ingroups are not
fully convergent or overlapping, the associated identity structure is both more inclusive and more complex.
In this article, we define the concept of social identity complexity and discu
Less
