Identity in Focus

Abstract

This article explores the use of focus groups as a method for investigating the construction of collective identity. Questions of collective identity are particularly pertinent to social movement theory and the methodologies developed by Touraine and Melucci for studying social movements are used as a starting point to inform the use of the focus group method.The research, conducted with members of the Women's Institute (WI), demonstrates how focus groups can be developed in a manner which overcomes the problems associated with Touraine and Melucci's methods. It involved rejecting generally held assumptions as to how this method should be used, and highlighting the crucial importance of analysing data generated by focus groups for both process and content. The article argues that the use of focus groups provides a robust and flexible method which possesses distinct characteristics that make it particularly suited to researching the construction of collective identity, and, consequently, for advancing the understanding of social movements.

Do people want more participation? Tensions and conflicts in governance in times of scepticism

“…Focus groups are a good methodological strategy to generate in-depth information on a given topic (Morgan, 1996). As a situated talk (Hydén and Bülow, 2003: 320), focus groups allow the observation of the processes through which participants share and construct their own positions and make sense of themselves as a group (Munday, 2006). Focus groups are far from being a natural encounter amongst friends, but participants engage in conversations and they make sense of common values, deep differences, assumptions and common understandings about themselves and the phenomena (Munday, 2006: 100).…”

“…Since Hibbing and Theiss-Morse (2002) stated their stealth democracy thesis (hypothesis 2), it has been disputed in the US and Europe. Neblo et al (2010), with different survey questions, showed that American citizens had preferences for other ways of ruling within a deliberative framework. In the UK, Webb (2013), also with different survey questions, showed that the British were more inclined towards participatory mechanisms, even though many people also supported the stealth democracy thesis.…”

Ethnographic locations: the geographies of feminist post-structural ethnography

“…Thus, focus groups are well-suited to an epistemological approach that views meaning as contextually produced, rather than located in individuals (Hollander 2004). In my research, focus groups provide an opportunity to explore how young people engage in the co-construction of realities (Munday 2006). In this section, I explore how focus groups contributed to the geography of this ethnographic study, generating a liminal space that was distinct from, but not entirely outside of, everyday schooling experiences.…”

Identity and acculturation: The case for Africa

“…Identity is that which makes individuals either similar to other people or different from them (Munday, 2006) . It contains different aspects of who the individual is; from biological sex, psychological processes, or demographic makeup, to the social positions held by the individual (Schwartz, Luyckx, & Vignoles, 2011) .…”