Social Identity Theory and New Portrayals of Citizens Involved in International Affairs

American Atrocity Revisited: National Identity, Cascading Frames, and the My Lai Massacre

“…The White House frames were culturally potent in this case because they served to bolster the national identity during a time of national vulnerability. In particular, the national dissonance caused by My Lai served to trigger among journalists and citizens receptivity to these frames (Entman, 1991;Rivenburgh, 2000), allowing the Nixon administration to effectively tap into these tendencies and shape how the incident came to be portrayed in the press and understood among Americans. In this sense, the press played an active role in doing what Tuchman (1978) and others (Bennett, Gressett, & Haltom, 1985) have refered to as "repair work" in its coverage of My Lai.…”

“…3 Social identity theory suggests that an individual's identity is heavily shaped by the social groups to which he or she belongs and the value attached to those groups (Tajfel, 1982). Individuals also do more than identify with social groups; they derive comfort, self-esteem, and security from them as well (Rivenburgh, 2000). Social identities can take many forms-ethnic, religious, partisan, etc.-but one of the most powerful and salient, especially in times of war, is national identity.…”

“…In contrast, cascading activation suggests that even if there is considerable disagreement among officials, this debate may not be reflected in the press if the frames introduced by the White House and military officials are more culturally resonant than congressional challenges. Scholarship has shown, for example, that news reporting frequently reflects an ethnocentric bias, particularly in times of conflict (Gans, 1979;Rivenburgh, 2000), and that psychological tendencies often lead journalists to rationalize or minimize the severity of incidents that threaten the image of the nation (Fishman & Marvin, 2003;Slattery & Doremus, 2012;Wolfsfeld, Frosh, & Awadby, 2008; business imperatives are relevant too, see Hutcheson et al, 2004). With this in mind, we expect a decline in the contestation of White House and military frames in news coverage about My Lai as they cascade downward toward the press due to the cultural resonance of these messages and the diminishing returns of the cascade-that is, news media are lower down in the framing hierarchy and, thus, find it increasingly difficult to resist the initial frames offered by the administration.…”

American Exceptionalism in the American Mind: Presidential Discourse, National Identity, and U.S. Public Opinion

“…It follows that because people derive a sense of self-value from their membership in national groups, they tend to engage in tactics that serve to protect the image of that national group (Gilmore, Meeks, & Domke, 2013;Hogg & Abrams, 1988;Tajfel, 1981Tajfel, , 1982 because such tactics, in turn, serve to protect their own, individual identity. For instance, Rivenburgh (2000) found that people go out of their way to disregard or downplay negative characteristics associated with members of their respective country. The most common of these defensive tactics, however, is the in-group or ethnocentric bias.…”

U.S. National Identity, Political Elites, and a Patriotic Press Following September 11

“…He argues that a nation-state, once created, will endure only if its mass citizenry form a psychological identification with the nation that prompts an internalization of national symbols. Scholars argue that this psychological identification with the nation is necessary, particularly in the arena of international relations, to ensure that the mass public will suppress competing sub-national identities (e.g., ethnic, family, religious) and mobilize to defend the nation if it is threatened (Rivenburgh, 2000). If citizens make a strong psychological identification with the nation and internalize national symbols, political leaders are better able to mobilize public sentiment toward a political goal in times of crisis by using communication strategies that emphasize positive themes of national identity (Cottam & Cottam, 2001).…”