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Linking Self and Social Structure

A Psychological Perspective on Social Identity in Sri Lanka

Drew University, mfreeman{at}drew.edu

A large (N = 603) and representative sample in Sri Lanka completed a questionnaire that assessed the salience of 11 social identities (nation, social class, age, religion, caste, occupation, race, gender, educational level, town or village of residence, and political party) within respondents’ self-concepts. Consistent with extant psychological theories of identity, four features of an identity were found to be systematically related to its salience within the self-concept: (a) how the status of an identity affects one’s overall self-esteem, (b) the degree to which one is a demographic minority on a category of identity, (c) whether an identity has been affected by processes of urban-industrial development, and (d) the type and extent of intergroup contact on a category of identity. The relevance of the identity framework to cross-cultural theory is discussed.

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