Nick Hopkins

Group behaviour depends on people categorising themselves and others in terms of a shared social identity. Experimental research addressing perceptions of entitativity (i.e., seeing people as a unified entity) highlights the importance of judgements concerning people's behavioural (dis)similarities. We complement such experimental research with an analysis of interview data in which we explore how participants ( N = 40) attending a culturally diverse religious gathering (the Hajj) interpreted the meaning of their (dis)similarities (e.g., in terms of their cultural origin language, religious practice, social behaviour). Our analysis shows participants' religious identity provided the vantage point from which such diversities (and their implications) were interpreted. Moreover, we show that the recognition of diversity need not undermine perceptions of entitativity. Indeed, we found that many features of diversity could be interpreted positively (i.e., as identity‐congruent) and as contributing to participants' sense of connection with other attendees. We also found that examples of diversity which could potentially undermine such a sense of connection were interpreted in ways that helped maintain a sense of shared pilgrim identity. The methodological, analytical and practical implications of our findings for research into the experience of diversity and group membership are discussed.

Experimental and survey research shows that a common group membership can result in increased levels of social support. Here we complement such research with qualitative data concerning the forms and function of such support. Specifically, we explore the mutual support reported by pilgrims undertaking the Hajj. This requires participants enact a series of identity‐related beliefs and values (including specific rituals) in conditions that are practically and psychologically challenging. Using data obtained through semi‐structured interviews ( N = 33), we investigate how participants' shared identity facilitated their behavioural enactment of these identity‐defining beliefs and values. We focus on how their shared understanding of their beliefs and values as Hajj pilgrims allowed various forms of support (psychological, material, informational, and behavioural) which helped participants translate their identity‐related ideals into behaviour. Our analysis implies that a shared identity provides a frame of reference with which group members can recognize each other's identity‐related concerns and what they need in order to enact their identity. In turn, it implies that in situations where there are practical and psychological constraints on behaviour, action in terms of one's social identity can be conceptualized as a joint accomplishment in which the mutual support of group members is key.

The concept of microaggressions alerts us how majority group members' everyday behaviour can impact minorities negatively. Recently, some researchers have questioned the criteria for identifying microaggressions and rejected the concept's utility. We maintain that attending to minorities' everyday experiences is important and illustrate this through a three‐phase study with Roma in Hungary. First, we conducted interviews exploring their everyday interactional experiences (Phase 1, N = 17); second, Roma participants filmed (naturally occurring) interactions with majority group members (Phase 2, N = 10); third, we showed such filmed interactions to Roma focus groups and recorded their discussions (Phase 3, N = 28). Analysing these discussions, we focused on how the experience of surveillance when shopping (even when manifested in apparently helpful attention from shop assistants) impacted participants in ways that majority group members likely have little awareness of. Specifically, participants reported their need to (a) reflect on (and manage) their emotional reactions; (b) weigh a variety of strategic considerations as to how to respond; and (c) engage in in‐the‐moment interpretation as to the nature of the interaction. Such experiences negatively impact the use of public space and illustrate the value of adopting the minority's vantage point concerning the identification of microaggressive treatment.

In crowds, to the degree one identifies with other crowd members one likely experiences a sense of common purpose, social connection and mutual support. Such is the psychological significance of these correlates of a shared identity that even others' close physical proximity can be pleasurable. However, such pleasure in others' proximity cannot be assumed: physical crowding can bring practical challenges and so potentially disturb the positive experience of crowd membership. In the research reported here, we explore crowd members' reports of such challenges and the ways in which these were interpreted and managed through reference to the beliefs and values associated with crowd members' shared identity. Our data arise from semi‐structured interviews ( N = 33) with British Muslims after participating in the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Exploring these data sheds light on the ways in which identity‐related beliefs and values can contribute to the maintenance of order and harmony even in situations where crowding could undermine the positive experience of others' proximity. Accordingly, our analysis advances our understanding of the self‐organization and self‐policing of crowds.

Ethnic minority group members’ responses to their prejudicial treatment can take several forms. One involves identity concealment (e.g., ‘passing’). In order to understand such a response, we must explore participants’ understandings of the interactional context before them, their meta‐perceptions of the identity others ascribe to them, and the varied meanings that identity concealment/non‐disclosure may have in that context. Our analysis of interview data ( N = 30) obtained with Roma in Hungary reveals diverse forms of, and motivations for, the concealment of their Roma identity. Some participants reported examples of proactive identity concealment, others reported more reactive forms (in which they went along with others’ mistaken assumptions concerning their identity). The motivations for identity concealment (whether proactive or reactive) included the desire to: secure material benefits; avoid conflict; take pleasure from seeing others’ assumptions blinding them to the reality before them; test (and expose) majority group members’ attitudes; allow themselves opportunities to experience the world in new ways. Our analysis highlights the importance of social identity researchers recognizing the diverse motivations for ethnic identity concealment: From the actors’ perspective concealment is not always assimilatory, and in some contexts can be experienced as empowering.

Mass gatherings are routinely viewed as posing risks to physical health. However, social psychological research shows mass gathering participation can also bring benefits to psychological well‐being. We describe how both sets of outcomes can be understood as arising from the distinctive forms of behavior that may be found when people—even strangers—come to define themselves and each other in terms of a shared social identity. We show that many of the risks and benefits of participation are products of group processes; that these different outcomes can have their roots in the same core processes; and that knowledge of these process provides a basis for health promotion interventions to mitigate the risks and maximize the benefits of participation. Throughout, we offer practical guidance as to how policy makers and practitioners should tailor such interventions.

Minorities do not always welcome apparently positive stereotypes of their group. At first sight, this may appear churlish. However, we show that minority group members’ theorizing on the production and operation of apparently positive stereotypes helps explain such a negative reaction. Reporting interview data ( N = 30) gathered with Hungarian Roma, we differentiated several bases for a negative response to the popular stereotype of Roma as possessing a distinctive musical talent. Although participants recognized the stereotype had instrumental value in easing everyday intergroup encounters, they also reported that the stereotype reflected the majority group’s power to define Roma identity; constrained recognition of qualities that they themselves valued; limited their abilities to act on terms that were their own; and could facilitate the reproduction of more negative Roma stereotypes. Taken together, these findings imply our participants saw this apparently positive stereotype as speaking volumes about the majority’s power to define Roma identity without reference to how they themselves defined their identity. We conclude with a discussion of the analytic value of the concept of ‘misrecognition’ in explaining negative responses to a positive stereotype. We also discuss the potential for such an apparently positive stereotype to facilitate improvements in intergroup relations.

Much research addresses the proposition that identifying with a group shapes individuals’ behaviour. Typically, such research employs experimental or survey methods, measuring or manipulating social identification and relating this to various outcome variables. Although shedding much light on the processes involved in the identity–behaviour relationship, such research tends to overlook the various constraints that limit individuals’ abilities to act in accordance with their identities. Using interview data gathered in north India, we explore the factors affecting the enactment of a religious identity. More specifically, using data gathered at a religious mass gathering, we compare and contrast participants’ reports of identity enactment when they are at the event and when they are in their home villages. These two contexts differ in terms of their social organization, especially the degree to which they are marked by the presence of a shared identity. Exploring participants’ accounts of such differences in social organization, we consider the social processes that constrain or facilitate identity enactment. In so doing, our analysis contributes to a richer analysis of the identity–behaviour relationship.

This article adds to the social psychological literature on how minority group members seek to manage their interactions with majority group members. Specifically, it focuses on minority group members’ use of humour in interactions where they anticipate or actually experience prejudice. The data on which our analysis is based originate from interviews conducted with Roma in Hungary (N = 30). Asked about their interactions with majority group members, interviewees reported using humour as a means to (a) manage embarrassment; (b) gather information about the other's intergroup attitudes; and (c) subvert taken‐for‐granted understandings of social relations. The humour involved was diverse. Sometimes it entailed the telling of (Roma‐related) jokes. Sometimes it involved the exaggerated performance of roles and identities that ironised majority–minority social relations. The significance of humour as a tool for minority group members to exert some control over their interactions with majority group members is discussed.