Social categorization and social identity

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En provenance du cours de ESSEC Business School

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

43 notes

ESSEC Business School

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

43 notes

Diversity is a fact. It is also paradoxical. We need to be capable of seeing and hearing differences in order to reap the benefits of diversity. But seeing and hearing differences hone our discriminating reflexes and can also lead to discrimination. If you take this MOOC, you will: 1. understand this paradox, 2. understand its dynamics, and 3. identify ways to manage it, so that you can better channel the diversity potential in the workplace for greater performance and innovation.

À partir de la leçon

Categorization and Diversity Perceptions

Now that you have a solid understanding of diversity and inclusion concepts, this second leg of the learning journey is all about you within an increasingly diversified social context. This module introduces you to how cognitive processes such as social categorization impact what we see and how we react to our social environment. It will help you understand your own and others' perceptions and reactions to difference. By the end of this module, you will have acquired conceptual tools and experiential data in order to analyse your reactions in social interactions in the workplace.

Social cognition and categorization processes5:10

The impact of social categorization on how we see others and ourselves5:42

Social categorization and social identity5:43

Rencontrer les enseignants

Junko Takagi
Teaching Professor
Management Department, Chair of Leadership & Diversity

[MUSIC]

The social identity of an individual is linked to her knowledge

of her membership in certain social groups.

Until the resulting emotional and

evaluative consequences of that membership.

According to Tajfel and Turner, social identification impacts the choice of

activities that are congruent with this identity.

In group cooperation, and cohesion, and

internalization of group values and believes.

Social identities help us in part to answer the fundamental question, who am I?

To the extent that an individual identifies with a social category.

This will influence this persons attitudes and

behaviors according to the stereotypical qualities of the category.

According to social interactionism, this identification gives us a shared meaning

concerning who we are, which is reflected through our interactions with others.

And generally simplifies and

makes possible our interactions with our social environment.

For example, when a far east Asian person associates being

Asian with conciliatory, non-conflictual traits,

they tend to adopt these qualities as standards for their own behaviors.

In doing so, they receive confirmatory feedback from both in group and

out group others, which allows them to have a meaningful interaction.

In addition, diversity categories are more often than not directly correlated

with power and prestige order, according to status characteristics theory.

For example, studies have confirmed that men have higher power and

prestige than women, particularly in task oriented mixed sex teams.

That is the exact condition we find in the workplace.

Similarly, ethnicity and race have been found to have a power and

prestige order in different societies.

Simon and

Halstead demonstrated that people are more likely to locate themselves along socially

positive aspects, in terms of collective categories.

What this means is that in general, since dominant social groups, for

example, men in leadership, or

heterosexuals, have more positive aspects in comparison to minorities.

For example, women in leadership, or gay men.

Those of dominant social groups are more likely to attain a positive social

identity.

Judith Howard considers that this is a challenge for members of stigmatized,

negatively valued groups.

Who may disassociate themselves to evaluate the distinguishing dimensions

of in groups as less negative to rate the in group as more favorable or

other dimensions.

Or to compete directly with the out group

to produce changes in the status of the groups.

In line with this, in considering racial and ethnic identity Fordham and

Ogbu provide an understanding of academic under-performance

among African-American students in the US.

As a desire on their part to maintain their racial identity.

A solidarity with the African-American culture.

So good students will intentionally perform badly academically,

in order to assert their in group identity.

In this context, high achieving African-American

students may experience an internal identity conflict, an ambivalence, and

end up taking on a raceless persona.

This raceless persona is not without psychological cost for

the high achieving student.

Leading to negative evaluations of the in-group or

identification with non-racial elements of the out-group.

Similarly members of the GLBT community talk about the difficulties they

encounter in the workplace and the impact on their coming out or not.

In work environments that are hostile to the GLBT community, gay individuals,

for example, have difficulty attaining a positive social identity.

As a consequence,

they may disguise their sexual orientation by creating a fictitious wife and

children with whom they spend fictitious holidays, in order to fit in.

And not be stigmatized or passed over for promotions.

However, these efforts have an overall negative psychological impact due to

the internal inconsistencies that this creates, as well as the cognitive effort

that this requires to maintain real and fictitious experiences and existence.

These identity phenomenon can also be extended to

other social categories such as women.

Social identity is a key element in our response to the question, who am I?

At the same time, diversity categories are laden with a positive identity for

dominant social groups and negative identity for minority groups.

Which can be explained by the in-group, out-group bias and

the power advantage of dominant social groups.

Social identity is a key element in response to the question, who am I?

For diversity, it is associated with power issues.

And members of minority social groups experience negative

psychological consequences of their social identity.

In the workplace, this becomes a long term cost for the firm.

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