Book Review: Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts

摘要

The “self” and “social identity” are two core principles that have long fascinated psychologists and sociologists. This broad list of interested academics, researchers, and practitioners ranges from Jung, who aimed to understand the “self” through the interpretation of the unconscious and symbolism (Jung and Shamdasani, 2010), to Tajfel and Turner (1979), who proposed that an individual's perception of who they are is heavily influenced by their membership(s) of a group (or groups). Tajfel and Turner (1986) suggest that, because there are key differences between an individual's personal and social identity, the differences are determined by perceived experiences within interpersonal and group situations. While some theorists have recognized that social identity theory can be limited in its differentiation of groups (Turner et al., 1987; Brown, 2000), other academics across the social sciences have attested to the use of social identity theory in generating hypotheses for the study of group behavior (Huddy, 2001; Bradford, 2014; Jenkins, 2014). While the above is, undoubtedly, a non-exhaustive list of those currently working within the area of “self” and “social identity,” Mavor, Platow, and Bizumic's book “Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts” (2017) utilizes social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) combined with self-categorization (Turner et al., 1987), referred throughout as the “social identity approach,” to highlight the importance of developing “new and creative forms of practice in educational settings” (p. i). In addition to the wealth of knowledge and experience of 44 academics, researchers, and practitioners, this book is viewed as an invitation for others to explore the “social and psychological processes by which learners' personal and social self-concepts shape and enhance learning and teaching” (p. i).