Concept of the method

1. SOCIAL IDENTITY

Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, football team etc.) which people belonged to, were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world.

We divided the world into “them” and “us” based through a process of social categorisation (i.e. we put people into social groups). Social identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to improve their self-image.