This paper introduces the concept of self-defining groups to explain how personal and social aspects of identity relate to each other among members of an extreme right-wing political party. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 examined how affiliation with a social group that has clear-cut, rigid norms and values affects the personal and social self-concept. Participants were members of a (self-defining) Turkish nationalist organisation (N=66) and a control group of Turkish university students (N=58). Paradoxically, high levels of national identification were associated with stronger personal identity. Study 2 used the same participant population (N=177) and manipulated self-focused attention by means of a mirror. Self-aware members reported the highest levels of identification with the nationalist organisation. Results suggest that members of this groups show no signs of 'vanishing individuality': although boundaries between personal and social identities are blurred, extremist group members retain a distinct and strengthened sense of personal identity. This raises some interesting questions for the concept of personal identity and how it can be informed by the content of one's social identity.
It seems to me that the latter is the more influential of the two, and that it becomes more so every day. Yet this fact is not reflected in our perception of ourselves, and the inheritance we invoke most frequently is the vertical one." (Maalouf, 2000, p. 102) To many in the West, Islamic religious fundamentalism appears regressive, conservative and destructive. How is it that scores of people are converted by a rhetoric that would seem to place them and their family at risk, and bring their community mostly misery? Historically, this is hardly an isolated phenomenon. During the reformation in 16 th and 17 th century Europe, heated debates over Christianity unleashed carnage and destruction, prompting some religious
What are the cultural origins of societal conflicts that revolve around democratization, women's rights, and modern libertarian values? We propose that deep-seated differences in community-based collective values (at the micro-level) may be related to why people support anti-government protest and why they support repression of such protests (at the macro-level). The hypothesis was examined among residents of Turkey (N = 500). Cultural values, measured at the individual level and community level with the community collectivism scale, correlated with political orientation and emotions, as well as with subsequent support for anti-governmental protest or its repression. The main conclusions are that both support for protest and support for repression are related to the cultural values people hold and their subsequent political orientations and emotions. Micro-level cultural values in local communities may thus play a role in explaining macro-level socio-political divides.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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