Group Identity and Conflicting Expectations of the Future in Northern Ireland

Much of the conflict in Northern Ireland is based on investments in one of three opposing political futures possible for the region: remaining part of Britain, joining Ireland, or becoming independent. Speculative scenarios describing each of these futures were randomly assigned to equal numbers of Protestant and Catholic undergraduates in Northern Ireland, and their expectations regarding material and civic improvement for their ingroup and peace and reconciliation between the groups were assessed. Two dimensions of religious identity, measured by the Identity and Public subscales of Luhtanen and Crocker's (1992) Collective Self-Esteem Scale (CSES), moderated the differences between groups, but only for their expectations of peace and reconciliation. Stronger expectations of improvement for the ingroup were related to higher scores on the Public subscale, regardless of religion or the political future presented. Thus, group identity had a complex, context-dependent relationship to intergroup conflict.     

Collective Identities of Class and Gender: Working-Class Women in the Pittston Coal Strike

This article investigates the intersections and tensions between two collective identities, those of class and gender, for working-class women involved in supporting the 1989–1990 strike against Pittston Coal Group in southwestern Virginia. In the case of this year-long (and ultimately successful) strike, women were organized by United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) staff in strike support activities, but they also sought to organize themselves as women. The tensions between their identity as members of the working class and their identity as women are revealed by examining their forms of activism, their relationship with the UMWA, the divisions between groups of activist women, and the articulation of women's involvement in the strike. The experiences of these women are briefly compared with women's activism in the 1984–1985 British Coal strike. The article concludes by arguing that collective identity is best understood as it emerges in response to specific contexts.     

Collective Narcissism as a Basis for Nationalism

Recent work suggests that collective narcissism—an exaggerated, unrealistic belief in an ingroup's greatness that demands constant external validation—is a strong predictor of a variety of political attitudes. In the present study, we use nationally representative panel data from Poland to examine the relationship between national collective narcissism and nationalism, a belief that the national ingroup is superior and should dominate other nations. We first demonstrate that national collective narcissism, nationalism, and mere satisfaction with national ingroup are distinct. In turn, in both cross-sectional and panel analyses, we find that (1) national collective narcissism is positively related to nationalism, whereas satisfaction with the national ingroup is not; and (2) national collective narcissism is a stronger predictor of nationalism than national ingroup satisfaction is in absolute terms. Our analyses thus provide evidence that nationalism may be rooted in narcissistic exaggeration of the greatness of the national ingroup rather than nonnarcissistic national ingroup satisfaction.     

Core social motives explain responses to collective action issues

Managing collective action issues such as pandemics and climate change requires major social and behavioral change. Dominant approaches to addressing these issues center around information provision and financial incentives to shift behavior, yet, these approaches are rarely effective without integrating insights from psychological research on motivation. By accurately characterizing human motives, social scientists can identify when and why individuals engage, and facilitate behavior change and public engagement. Here, we use the core social motives model to sort social psychological theories into five fundamental social motives: to Belong, Understand, Control, self-Enhance, and Trust. We explain how each motive can improve or worsen collective action issues, and how this framework can be further developed towards a comprehensive social psychological perspective to collective action issues.     

Deconstructing the Doctrine of Double Effect

This paper examines the doctrine of double effect as it is typically applied. The difficulty of distinguishing between what we intend and what we foresee is highlighted. In particular, Warren Quinn's articulation of that distinction is examined and criticised. It is then proposed that the only credible way that we can be said to foresee that a harm will result and mean something other than that we intend it to result, is if we are not certain that that harm will result. The ramifications of this are explored. The paper concludes with a moral evaluation of a variety of cases that have harmful outcomes. It is recommended both that we abandon the doctrine of double effect and that we cease to describe cases with harmful outcomes in a dishonest way.     

A multistage ranking model

In this paper, we propose a (n–1)² parameter, multistage ranking model, which represents a generalization of Luce's model. We propose then×n item-rank relative frequency matrix (p-matrix) as a device for summarizing a set of rankings. As an alternative to the traditional maximum likelihood estimation, for the proposed model we suggest a method which estimates the parameters from thep-matrix. An illustrative numerical example is given. The proposed model and its differences from Luce's model are briefly discussed. We also show some specialp-matrix patterns possessed by the Thurstonian models and distance-based models.     

Collective guilt,moral outrage,and support for helping the poor: A matter of system versus in‐group responsibility framing

We examined how the framing of responsibility for reducing socio‐economic inequality affects individuals' emotional reactions towards the poor and the willingness to engage in prosocial actions. Attribution of responsibility to either the system (government and institutions), the less deprived in‐group, or the disadvantaged out‐group (poor) was measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Study 2). Consistent with our hypotheses, moral outrage was higher than collective guilt when system responsibility for inequalities was put forth, but collective guilt arose to reach the level of moral outrage when in‐group responsibility was emphasized. Moreover, distinguishing between collective guilt for action and for inaction, we found guilt for inaction more difficult and thus less likely to arise, unless responsibility was put on the in‐group. Collective emotions were also found to be negatively linked to system justification motivation illustrating the palliative function of legitimization processes. Finally, moral outrage predicted the willingness to act upon socio‐economic inequalities both when the system's and in‐group's responsibility was emphasized, whereas collective guilt for action (but not for inaction) predicted support for prosocial actions only when the in‐group's responsibility was engaged. These findings suggest that the specific group‐based emotions in response to poverty depend on whether the system or the in‐group is held responsible and differentially predict individuals' commitment to act.     

Helping behaviour among people who use drugs: Altruism and mutual aid in a harm reduction program

People who use drugs, and particularly people experiencing addiction, are rarely afforded the opportunity to have their voices heard when it comes to drug treatment or drug policy or even when attempting to define themselves and their life experiences. Of course, there is much more to a person than one area of their behaviour. The current study seeks to capture and understand the lived experiences of people who use drugs, with a focus on their relationships and helping behaviour. We interviewed 32 participants in a harm reduction program seeking to provide understanding beyond stigmatizing and criminalizing drug narratives, by exploring their motivation and context for helping behaviours. Grounded theory methodology was used to understand the patterns of helping behaviour, along with the contexts in which help is or is not given. We particularly focus on participants' distribution of syringes and carrying medicine to reverse overdose (naloxone). Participants shared stories of altruism and mutual aid, along with barriers and disincentives to helping others. We situate these behaviours within contrasting environments of a free harm reduction program and the competitive market system of the U.S. society. Implications for practice and public policy are discussed.     

Applicability of the social identity model of collective action in predicting support for interreligious violence in Indonesia

To what extent does religious identification promote collective efficacy and perceived injustice that contribute to explain support for interreligious violence in Indonesia? This overarching research question is inspired by theoretical insights starting from social identity theory, and noticeably enriched by collective action theories. We use high‐quality data of 1,995 randomly selected individuals (Muslims and Christians) from across the Indonesian archipelago to investigate the mediating effects of perceived injustice and collective efficacy on the relationship between religiosity and support for interreligious violence. We also improve upon previous research with an elaborate measure of religiosity (beliefs, practice, and salience). Our structural equation modelling analysis reveals that collective efficacy significantly mediates the relationship between the religiosity dimensions and support for interreligious violence. Moreover, on average, the Muslim community has a higher level of collective efficacy, as compared to the Christian community, which positively affects the relationship between most religiosity dimensions and support for interreligious violence. An interesting finding is that in the Christian community, salience is overall negatively related to collective efficacy, which then negatively affects support for interreligious violence. These results provide novel empirical insights on the role of religious identity in interreligious conflicts in the South Asian context, especially Indonesia.     

Relationship between the internal locus of control and collective action: A comparison of East Asian and Western Countries

This study tested factors related to collective action in East Asian and Western countries. Although the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) could explain which factors relate to collective action in Western countries, previous studies have found that some of the SIMCA variables did not predict collective action in non‐Western countries. We hypothesised that the internal locus of control would be positively related to collective action even in East Asian countries because previous studies have demonstrated that the former can positively influence proactive behaviour when factors inhibiting such behaviours exist. We analysed the 2010 World Values Survey data from seven countries (three East Asian and four Western countries). The results demonstrated that the internal locus of control was positively related to collective action more so among East Asians (Koreans, specifically those with low political interests, the Taiwanese, and Japanese people with lower income) than among Westerners. These results suggest that the internal locus of control is a key individual difference that predicts collective action in the presence of factors that inhibit such participation (e.g., cultural values, low political interest, and low income).