The social dimension: Intergroup differences in group perceptions

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the phenomenon of intergroup differences in group perceptions. My prime concern is with how and why groups differ in their perceptions of their own and other groups or social categories. I intend to provide evidence for two viewpoints. Firstly, it will be argued that categorization theory, taken as an essentially cognitive model, cannot account for observed intergroup differences in perceptions of groups. Social identity theory, however, which combines motivational and cognitive principles, seems to be capable of explaining to a greater extent how the subject's group membership affects his way of describing groups and evaluating group characteristics. Several studies demonstrate that social identity theory has a pervasive capacity to predict intergroup perceptions, particularly – and this is my second point – if one takes into account the role of the stability of an intergroup status relationship as an intervening variable in the study of intergroup perceptions. Furthermore, I will propose two elaborations of social identity theory. Firstly, it will be shown that group descriptions do not simply reflect the subject's desire to depict his own group as comparatively favourable vis-a-vis outgroups. Often, complex presentational strategies are used in group representations. One strategy, for instance, is to describe groups in such a way that one implicitly advocates the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the existing status relationship. Another strategy is to include in one's group representations a definitely positive, though non-threatening, social identity for the outgroup in order to secure the own group's position.