Description

All people derive particular identities from their roles in society, the groups they belong to, and their personal characteristics. Introduced almost thirty years ago, identity theory is a social psychological theory in the field of sociology that attempts to understand identities, their sources in interaction and society, their processes of operation, and their consequences for interaction and society. The theory brings together in a single framework the central roles of both meaning and resources in human interaction and purpose.

This book describes identity theory, its origins, the research that supports it, and its future direction. It covers the relation between identity theory and other related theories as well as the nature and operation of identities. In addition, the book discusses the multiple identities that individuals hold from their multiple positions in society and organization as well as the multiple identities activated by many people interacting in groups and organizations. And, it covers the manner in which identities offer both stability and change to individuals. Co-authored by the developers of the theory, this book accessibly presents decades of research in a single volume, making the full range of this powerful new theory understandable to readers at all levels.

Features

• The authors are among the most productive and important sociologists conducting research on identity and their work is widely recognized and respected
• This is a much-needed and definitive synthesis and integration of the vast amount of work that has been produced on identity theory

Reviews

"This excellent overview of identity theory is the first book-length treatment of the tradition since Stryker's classic 1980 work, Symbolic Interactionism. Here we have a wonderfully complete overview of the enormous corpus of research that Burke and Stets have produced over the past decades. More importantly, it is a great roadmap for the future--35 new hypotheses, ripe for the testing--pointing the way for new generations of identity theory scholars."--Lynn Smith-Lovin, Robert L. Wilson Professor of Arts and Sciences, Duke University

"The deep lesson of Burke and Stets' Identity Theory is the value of mounting a sustained, career-long programmatic effort to advance theory and research in an area of great import to social psychology. Describing and building on the productive past and rich present of identity theory, it lays out a vision of an exciting future based on ideas that will underwrite social psychological work on the complex relationships among self, identity, social interaction and social structure for decades to come."--Sheldon Stryker, Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Indiana University

"For years, sociologists and psychologists have examined the intricate interplay between identity, social interaction and emotion largely in parallel, nodding only occasionally in the direction of their counterparts. By carefully weaving the psychological literature on self-verification with the sociological literature on identity verification, this groundbreaking work bridges the divide with an integrative theory of self and identity. Broad yet astonishingly detailed, it will guide research for generations to come."--William B. Swann, Professor of Social and Personality Psychology, University of Texas at Austin

"For the first time, this book brings together more than thirty years of sustained theory development and supporting empirical research by these two leading scholars in structural social psychology. It not only gives the best contemporary understanding of the Burke-Stets theory of identity processes, but also serves as an excellent model of programmatic theory building and extension."--Murray Webster, Jr., Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Product Details

272 pages; 15 b/w illus.; 6 1/8 X 9 1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-538827-5ISBN10: 0-19-538827-5

About the Author(s)