University of Sussex
Browse
BROWN_British_Journal_of_Social_Psychology_OCT_2019_author_copy.pdf (684.08 kB)

The social identity approach: appraising the Tajfellian legacy

Download (684.08 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 19:31 authored by Rupert Brown
Since its original formulation, Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory (SIT) has broadened considerably from its original focus on intergroup relations and is now applied to a wide range of phenomena. Indeed, the ‘social identity approach’ has become one of the most widely used perspectives in contemporary social psychology. In this article, I examine the popularity of Tajfel’s writings on social identity and intergroup relations, especially over the last thirty years when they started to become more generally used. I offer a critical appraisal of the original SIT, both as a theory of intergroup relations and as a theory of identity, concluding that its real value lies in its success in offering an over-arching perspective on the importance of groups in social life and its ability to stimulate new areas of research. I then widen the discussion to consider how the social identity perspective has been used in a number of other fields of enquiry.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

British Journal of Social Psychology

ISSN

0144-6665

Publisher

British Psychological Society

Page range

1-21

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-11-01

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-11-07

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-10-31

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC