Social Identity and Patriotism

Social Identity

SIT defines social identity as a person’s sense of who they are based on group membership, i.e., national identity, ethnic identity, sports team identity, and even gender identity. The assumption is that people think about others by categorizing them into social groups that share similar characteristics. This can have an impact on self-definition and self-evaluation; whatever one thinks of the group impacts whatever one thinks of oneself.

So it’s safe to assume that, at events like the Olympics, a collective sense of win or loss goes along with the performance of the athletes representing our country.

But some of us either don’t experience this as intensely or don’t experience it at all. The idea of watching a team win a match or a runner win gold and then partaking in the win because we share a nationality has always felt strange and invasive.

How is this possible?

Not Always Us and Them

Part of the problem is that SIT works under the assumption that all of us think categorically (“us and them”) about ourselves and others. But Shawn Rosenberg and Peter Beattie found evidence while studying people in the U.S. that not everyone thinks in those terms. Instead, they found three types of thinking that influence people’s experiences of social identity and patriotism:

• Sequential thinking. Sequential thinkers recognize themselves and others by their appearance and understand everyone in terms of their place or participation in a specific sequence of events. The self operates as an “acting I” that focuses on its participation in currently unfolding events. These people are unconcerned with self-identification or social identity. But national identity can emerge if reinforced. They are more prone to judge their national counterparts more favorably and express the highest levels of blind patriotism.
• Linear thinking. Linear thinkers see themselves and others as actors connected to the same anchor(s), which are defined categorically in terms of the set of specific things they do or that have been done to them. As a result, they assume that everyone within a category is the same. Which leads to depersonalization and stereotyping. These people judge their national counterparts favorably and express relatively high levels of blind patriotism.
• Systematic thinking. Systematic thinkers regard individual people or communities as self-organizing systems where the meaning of their actions, beliefs, or group memberships is subjectively constructed. They define and differentiate people by the particular roles they play and the functions they serve within the social system. As such, they recognize that individuals have varying social locations and functions, and though they may share a citizenship, they are likely to be quite different from one another. These people judge their national counterparts less favorably (albeit not unfavorably) and are less blindly patriotic.

The Diversity of Us Within the Whole

This approach to how we experience social identity and patriotism individually points to yet another kind of diversity within humankind: that of how we reach our own definitions of self within a social system. Rosenberg estimates that, at least in the U.S., about 20% of the population thinks sequentially, 65% linearly, and 15% systematically.

This helped me realize that some of us see and evaluate ourselves and others differently. We can love and appreciate our nation and culture while at the same time being aware of the different contexts in which we engage that we may have in common with others, regardless of citizenship.

This is why I don’t need to partake in a win from the Olympians that share my national flag, and why some of them aren’t shy about displaying respect and admiration for each other. Though they come from different places and proudly display their national flags, they don’t just belong to a nation or culture. They are athletes, and it’s also important to acknowledge their performances in terms of their admirable individual effort and dedication.

I find the tears of joy of Tatjana Schoenmaker and the hugs and smiles she received from her competitors part of a beautiful moment that reminded the world that Olympians, like the rest of us, are all outstanding individuals, regardless of the flag displayed on their uniforms.