In the field study we examined the assumptions proposed by Social Identity Theory (SIT) that dominant and non-dominant groups differ systematically regarding the functional interaction between beliefs about the intergroup situation and identity management strategies. Participants were university students from three racial groups: blacks (N = 100), coloured (N = 100), as non-dominant groups, and whites (N = 100) as dominant group in post-apartheid South Africa. A multiple group path analysis to test SIT revealed systematic differences between dominant and non-dominant groups regarding the impact of perceived legitimacy on ingroup identification, perceived legitimacy on social competition and on individual mobility. Furthermore, the results showed that ingroup identification differentiates between individual and collective strategies irrespective of the groups' status positions. The results also highlight the different effects (or lack of effects) of the socio-structural variables in the SIT model, which is argued to be determined by the concrete socio-historical context of the respective intergroup relations.
AlexanderN. (1999). Prospects for a non-racial future in South Africa.Cape Town: Faculty of Education, University of Cape Town.
2.
BlanzM.MummendeyA.MielkeR.KlinkA. (1996). Wechselseitige Differenzierung zwischen sozialen Gruppen: Ein Vorhersagemodell der Theorie der sozialen Identität. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 29, 239–259.
3.
BlanzM.MummendeyA.MielkeR.KlinkA. (1998). Responding to negative social identity: A taxonomy of identity management strategies. European Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 697–729.
BrettencourtB. A.DorrN.CharltonK.HumeD. L. (2001). Status Differences and In-group Bias: A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Effects of Status Stability, Status Legitimacy, and Group Permeability. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 520–542.
6.
BrownR. (2000). Social Identity Theory: Past achievements, current problems and future challenges. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 745–778.
7.
ByrneB. M. (2004). Testing for Multigroup Invariance Using AMOS Graphics: A road Less Traveled. Structural Equation Modeling, 11, 272–300.
8.
CampbellC. (1995a). The social identity of township youth: An extension of Social Identity Theory (Part 1). South African Journal of Psychology, 25, 150–159.
9.
CampbellC. (1995b). The social identity of township youth: Social identity theory and gender (Part 2), South African Journal of Psychology, 25, 160–167.
10.
DuckittJ.MphuthingT. (2002). Relative Deprivation and Intergroup Attitudes: South Africa before and after the Transition. In WalkerI.SmithH. J. (Eds), Relative Deprivation. Specification, Development and Integration (pp. 69–90). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11.
DumontK.LouwJ. (2009). A citation analysis of Henri Tajfel's work on intergroup relations. International Journal of Psychology, 44, 46–59.
12.
EllemersN. (2002). Social identity and relative deprivation. In WalkerI.SmithH. J. (Eds), Relative Deprivation. Specification, Development and Integration (pp. 239–264). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13.
EllemersN.BosA. E. R. (1998). Social Identity, Relative Deprivation, and Coping with the Threat of Position Loss: A Field Study among Native Shopkeepers in Amsterdam. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 1987–2006.
14.
EllemersN.SpearsR.DoosjeB. (1997). Sticking together or falling apart: Ingroup identification as a psychological determinant of group commitment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 617–626.
15.
EllemersN.Van KnippenbergA.De VriesN.WilkeH. (1988). Social identification and permeability of group boundaries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 497–513.
16.
Employment Equity Reports by the South African Department of Labour (2002–2004). Retrieved 25 April 2006 from http://www.labour.gov.za/.
17.
FinchilescuG.De la ReyC. (1991). Understanding intra-group variations in prejudice — the role of perceived legitimacy and stability. South African Journal of Psychology, 21, 225–232.
18.
GelbS. (2003). Inequality in South Africa: Nature, causes and responses.Johannesburg: Report of the EDGE Institute.
19.
GibsonJ. L.GouwsA. (1999). Social Identity and Political Intolerance: Linkages within the South African Mass Public. American Journal of Political Science, 44, 278–292.
20.
GuimondS.DifS.AupyA. (2002). Social identity, relative group status and intergroup attitudes: When favourable outcomes change inter-group relations … for the worse. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 739–760.
21.
LeachC. W.SniderN.IyerA. (2002). “Poisoning the Consciences of the Fortunate”: The Experience of Relative Advantage and Support for Social Equality. In WalkerI.SmithH. J. (Eds), Relative Deprivation. Specification, Development and Integration (pp. 136–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22.
MummendeyA.KesslerT.KlinkA.MielkeR. (1999). Strategies to cope with negative social identity: Predictions by social identity theory and relative deprivation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 229–245.
23.
MummendeyA.KlinkA.MielkeR.WenzelM.BlanzM. (1999). Socio-structural characteristics of intergroup relations and identity management strategies: Results from a field study in East Germany. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 256–285.
24.
NiensU.CairnsE. (2003). Explaining Social Change and Identity Management Strategies. New Directions for Future Research. Theory & Psychology, 13, 489–509.
25.
NiensU.CairnsE.FinchilescuG.ForsterD.TredouxC. (2003). Social identity theory and the authoritarian personality theory in South Africa. South African Journal of Psychology, 33, 109–117.
26.
RubinM.HewstoneM. (2004). Social Identity, System Justification, and Social Dominance: Commentary on Reicher, Jost et al., and Sidanius et al. Political Psychology, 25, 823–843.
27.
TajfelH. (Ed.) (1978). Differentiation between Social Groups.Academic Press: London.
28.
TajfelH. (1979). Individuals and Groups in social psychology. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 183–190.
29.
TajfelH. (1982). Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1–39.
30.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
31.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
32.
TurnerJ.BrownR. (1978). Social status, cognitive alternatives and intergroup relations. In TajfelH. (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups, studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 201–234). London: Academic Press Inc.
33.
TurnerJ. C. (1999). Some current issues in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In EllemersN.SpearsR.DoosjeB. (Eds), Social identity (pp. 6–34). Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
