Identity Theory

The concept of identity has become widespread within the social and behavioral sciences in recent years, cutting across disciplines from psychiatry and psychology to political science and sociology. All individuals claim particular identities given their roles in society, groups they belong to, and characteristics that describe themselves. Introduced almost 30 years ago, identity theory is a social psychological theory that attempts to understand identities, theirsources in interaction and society, their processes of operation, and their consequences for interaction and society from a sociological perspective. 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 individuals hold from their multiple positions in society and organizations 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 toindividuals. Written in an accessible style, Identity Theory makes, step by step, the full range of this powerful new theory understandable to readers at all levels.

“"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”

"Identity Theory encourages not only more systematic research, but also a continuing discussion among theorists and practitioners about the meaning and measure of identity theory." --Contemporary Sociology"As a macrosociologist of culture and politics, I learned much from Identity Theory. The book is a must-read for scholars of all disciplines who want to work with the concept of identity." --Mabel Berezin, Associate Professor of Sociology, Cornell University

Peter J. Burke and Jan E. Stets are both Professors of Sociology and Co-Directors of the Social Psychology Research Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside.

The concept of identity has become widespread within the social and behavioral sciences in recent years, cutting across disciplines from psychiatry and psychology to political science and sociology. All individuals claim particular identities given their roles in society, groups they belong to, and characteristics that describe themselves. Introduced almost 30 years ago, identity theory is a social psychological theory that attempts to understand identities, their sources in interaction and society, their processes of operation, and their consequences for interaction and society from a sociological perspective. 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 individuals hold from their multiple positions in society and organizations 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. Written in an accessible style, Identity Theory makes, step by step, the full range of this powerful new theory understandable to readers at all levels.

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