Structural power and identity in intergroup processes.

Abstract

An experimental study is conducted to explore the relationship between identity and structural power. It is argued that social psychological investigations of power have focused on interpersonal power, while conceptions of intergroup domination and subordination (Miller, 1976, Apfelbaum, 1979) describe a more structural model of power. A method for manipulating structural power in a laboratory setting is proposed and tested. It is also shown that models of identity in relation to power have been limited to minimal conceptions of identity that fail to reflect the complexity and functions of real world identities that face group based subordination. The research based on these minimal conceptions of identity argue that identity is abandoned in the face of domination. The current study examines the differences in minimal and strong identities in low power contexts. Past research findings using minimal identities in minimal interaction settings are replicated using similar experimental conditions, in which high power minimal groups demonstrated ingroup favoritism, while low power groups demonstrated outgroup favoritism as well as low levels of ingroup affiliation relative to high power groups. However, an experimental condition in which a real world identity group experienced the experimental subordination together is presented. In this low power condition, these strongly identified participants did not display outgroup favoritism, nor do they demonstrate abandonment of group identity. The importance and limitations of studying strong identities in research on asymmetrical group relations is discussed.