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The Concept and Function of "Identity Reference Groups"
The mission, at the Culture Link organization of New York City, is to train workers, managers and executives to function more effectively with "culturally diverse" employees of government and business enterprises. This includes helping them all to become more effective at reaching and servicing "culturally diverse" clients.
Within the last decade, attention to cultural diversity has become a high profile concern in the United States for increasingly complex reasons. The "melting pot" idea of inclusion which envisioned that an immigrant to the US would become an amalgamated American, fused with all the cultural elements introduced by newcomers from many nations, has given way to another idea. Its' new metaphor is the salad, or the stew, or the mosaic; a composition of different discreet, distinct elements which give form to a single discreet, distinct whole. So, if it is acceptable, even desirable, for individual Americans to retain their inherited cultural identity then, it is imperative that these individual Americans learn how to acknowledge and regard the other multiple cultures of their Nation as well as their own.
Additionally, as we move into the 21st Century, changes in communications, transportation, economics and styles of living portend that the coming century will see an enormous increase in trade and other interactions among very diverse peoples all over the world. Many economists and other analysts of current conditions and future trends suggest that the new era will be one in which "tribes" will control the movements of world economies. Joel Kotkin has written a most thought provoking book by that title suggesting how these tribes cross national, even racial borders and are replacing governments and multinational companies as the controlling factor in world trade. ( Tribes, Random House 1993.) Appreciation of diversity in the US could then be simply taken as good business. Foreign cultures which are better understood by Americans who share their history and heritage are much more feasible markets for US goods and services.
Yet another perspective on US interest in diversity originates from the view that there are certain groupings of people with shared interests which government and society must recognize and deal with fairly. Religious groups may be such, as well as senior citizens, the disabled, gay people, women, ethnic minorities, racial minorities, etc. All of these groups comprise a segment of the whole, a minority by definition ( except for women of course; a special case ). In the US, It is a cherished principle of fair governance that while the majority rules, minority rights, including those of the individual, must be observed. While this rule sometimes fails in practice, in principle it is always followed. Thus, US society seeks to recognize groups whose diversity can be readily seen and whose members advance their mutual interests through the political process.
Taken together, all of these different groups constitute a very significant number. In just one zip code of the Queens suburb of New York City, for instance, there are nearly 100 different ethnic groups. A delegation of educators from the Sakha Republic, of Russia whom I was honored to host November 94, witnessed schools in New York and Miami where children from more than 30 different ethnic groups take classes together. When you add to the ethnic groupings the different religious groups, and special interest groups, and socio-economic groups, and racial groups you have a very rich picture of diversity indeed.
As we began, over ten years ago, to train social workers, teachers, psychologists, engineers, correction officers, medical and other health workers to better understand and work with people from so many different groupings, we ran head first into some seemingly overwhelming problems:
How could we possibly get even very intelligent, well educated people to understand the cultural frames, values and codes of behavior of so many different groups, especially in the three days allowed for their training?
What term could we use to refer to these diverse groups? An ethnic group is not necessarily a racial group. A religious group is not necessarily a national group. All special interest groups are not necessarily continuing groups; many disperse as the interest which glues them together disappears.
"None is so blind as he who will not see". Stereotypes and prejudice are a fact of life. How could we get people to look at others different from themselves and see more than their long held predisposition might allow?
We approached the first problem by using concepts and perspectives from anthropology. Instead of trying to teach a little about each of many groups, we focused on teaching about the categories of factors which are reflected in any cultural group. ie: such groups, whether from the most or the least industrialized societies, have rituals and traditions, they maintain "myths", they have and respond to value systems, they have taboos and attendant sanctions, they have implicit codes of behavior, they have formal and informal systems of organization and authority, etc.. Our expectation is that teachers, social workers etc. who want to understand how best to work with a child and family of a different group from themselves will be able to draw pertinent information from the child himself and/or others of his group if they know what to look for.
Attention to the second and third problems led us to the concept of:
Identity Reference Groups ("ID" Groups).
Noting the emergence of an attitude in the United States which encourages individuals to value and identify with their parents country of origin and take pride in their heritage, Arthur Schlessinger worries about its potential for undermining fundamental American concepts. (The Disuniting of America: W.W.Norton Co. 1991). The United States is a synthetic nation. It did not evolve, it was constructed. It was conceived on the premise that all who would immigrate to it, from whatever place in the world, would do so understanding that they were giving up political and emotional ties to their people and places of origin and were joining with others in an allegiance to principles and ideas of democracy and governance which would eventually lead to the emergence of a new more principled more honorable people; Americans. These are very lofty ideals and Schlessinger is concerned that our march in their direction is being subverted by appeals to "diversity". His thoughts on this matter merit attention.
John Naisbitt, of Megatrends fame, also acknowledges the phenomenon of identification with an ethnic or cultural group but he sees it as a world wide trend. He also uses Kotkin's term "Tribalism" to identify it. In his most recent book, Global Paradox, ( Avon Books, 1994 ) he describes the idea this way: "Tribalism is the belief in fidelity to one's own kind, defined by ethnicity, language, culture, religion, or, in this late 20th century, profession. And this belief is flourishing."
Naisbitt is not as bound as Kotkin to consideration of only a handful of "tribes" and adds. "Also in this late 20th century, each of us--- absent a threat to our core identity-- can identify with a number of tribal manifestations. One person can , with the freedom that comes with security, be simultaneously a Houstonian, a Texan, an American, an accountant and Chinese. But if you are a Muslim living in dangerous Bosnia, you are overwhelmingly a Muslim".
In our opinion Schlessinger need not worry about the disuniting of America. It is entirely possible to identify, without conflict, with many different groups and it is unnecessary to limit ourselves to a static view of the world based on geographic borders set by political accidents. Naisbitts' acknowledgement that a person may simultaneously identify with several groups is consistent with present reality, at least in the Americas, and anticipates worldwide trends. This is the view that ten years ago prompted our development of the Identity Reference Group construct described below.
Characteristics of Identity Reference Groups:
An Identity Reference Group is one with which an individual identifies. He can refer to it in defining himself; " I am a (?)." An individual experiences strong similarities between himself and members of an ID Group. There are distinct characteristics "attributed" to the group. There is a sense of 'joint destiny" shared by the group. There is a sense of continuity to the group. The individual perceives himself as having permanent membership in it.
Identity Reference Groups are labeled from different perspectives. From a socioeconomic (class) perspective an individual can take the wealthy or the poor or the working class, or the intelligencia as his Identity Reference Group. From an ethnic perspective the individuals "ID Group" could be Catellan or Basque, Bosnian, Japanese, Korean etc,. One can connect to a national ID Group as well. Racial perspectives often establish "White" and "Black, or Nonwhite" as ID Groups, sometimes adding "Asian or Oriental" to the distinctions. A religion can easily be an individual's ID Group.
Special interest ID Groups can have an effect as powerful as any other on the identity of an individual. The elderly; senior citizens, the old, no matter what the term used, is an ID Group with expanding membership, in US society at least, and undergoing redefinition as well. Further examples in US society are, the disabled, gay people, and "feminists". Since the prime determinant of what constitutes his Identity Reference Group is the individual himself, other ID Groups are clearly possible.
It is hard to imagine an individual who would invest his entire identity, his whole sense of self in just one Identity Reference Group. Most individuals' sense of identity incorporates membership in several ID Groups to which they may attach greater or lesser weight over the course of a lifetime. An African American gay female, born to a wealthy upper class Boston family, who attends the Baptist church has membership in several Identity Reference Groups. She may feel the strongest identification with any one of them; upper class wealthy perhaps. In college, attending courses on African Studies and interacting with other African American students she may increase her sense of identity with the African American ID Group. As she matures, acknowledges the direction of her sexual inclination, and becomes involved with the social and political aspects of being gay, the power and importance of that identification may rise to principle importance.
The individuals' personality and sense of identity are not static. For most individuals, experience, learning, and changed circumstances continually affect their sense of identity. The African American lady described above could conceivably be converted to another religion, Moslem for example, thereby adding at least one other ID Group and, possibly, extinguishing one or more others. Aging will eventually entitle her to membership in another group (Senior Citizens) and she may adjust her sense of identification once more to include the elderly ID Group. A serious disability could add another ID Group.
To the individual, membership in apparently opposed ID Groups is not necessarily contradictory. Millions of Latin Americans will say they are Catholic but practice other religions in parallel: Santeria, Curanderismo, Esperitismo, Protestantism (different denominations) and other indigenous religions. Millions of citizens of the United States, when asked "what are you?", will identify themselves as Irish or German or Swedish etc. when they are at home in Illinois or Massachusetts but, the following week when vacationing in Saint Petersburg, Russia will answer that they are "American", meaning of course that their ID Group is people of The United States of America.
ID Groups are said to possess "attributes" which may be experienced as having negative or positive valence. Just as each individual has aspects of personality which can be said to attract (have positive valence) and others that may repel (have negative valence) so too with an ID Group. These characteristics we refer to as "attributes" since they may not necessarily be true in an objective sense, but are nonetheless subjectively applied by the perceiver. They are thus attributed to the group though not necessarily possessed by the group. With Latin American people for instance, attributes often expressed include: excitable, romantic, lazy, knife fighters, good lovers, arrogant, very hospitable, etc. etc. Some of these attributes may have positive valence ie: very hospitable, and some negative valence ie: lazy.
One mans' food is another mans' poison. The valence of the same attribute may be positive to some and negative to others. In the example of Latin Americans given above, the attributes "romantic" and "good lover" may have nice positive valence to the young unmarried Latin man hurrying to take his newest girlfriend to the dance but an equally negative valence to that young lady's father.
ID Group membership can be a matter of self identification or other identification and the difference in perspective can be the cause of serious conflict. In the United States, government policy has established some general categories of special status for various economic and political reasons. At present a category termed "Asian or Pacific Islander" includes: Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Trobrianders and others who often resist the category for fear of being confused for one another. It could be that their resistance to another's' label is based on dislike. But, I believe their response stems more from anxiety about something threatening to their sense of identity; If my ID Group is Korean, he who takes me for Chinese is ignoring a key piece of my identity, my sense of self, that which makes me me. It might seem I am reacting against the other but in truth I am reacting for myself. Self identification reflects my reality. I identify through ID Groups I believe apply. I give weight to each according to my feelings. If my identity is established by others, there is a tendency to give some ID Groups greater importance than I would; even to ignore the existence of some, however important to me. And, others may tend to impose their own valence on attributes of my ID Group and on me.
For reasons of an individuals character, experience and emotional makeup each person tends to "filter" his view of an ID Group allowing only a pattern of mainly positively or negatively valence attributes to shine through. Most people screen out all but the most positively valence attributes of their own ID Groups. The other, the observer, may let a single attribute come through in sharp focus and leave all others blurred in the background.
Uses of the ID Reference Group Concept. Stereotypes and prejudices are strongly held, rarely acknowledged impediments to effective interactions between diverse people. To the extent human existence can be reduced to an "us versus them" equation there can be little hope for elevated human interaction. If people conceive of their identity in terms of just a single Identity Reference Group their tendency will be to concentrate on the differences between themselves (their group) and others, an "Us"><"them" schism, and to think that the only right way is "our" way and to assume that those who are different are, by that logic, wrong and then the next step; bad!
We have dealt with this phenomenon and found it exceedingly difficult to get people to face their prejudices directly or to modify them when they see them. So, we have taken another path. We concentrate on helping our trainees understand the concept and functions of the ID Reference Group. If people get to see and accept that they personally have membership in more than one group, and that others also have the same experience, they can accurately hold to the expectation that at some point they will share membership with almost everyone else in the world in some ID Reference Group and that makes it very hard to hold on to the destructive "Us vs. Them" mentality.
Use of the ID Group concept is also possible in psychotherapy. Sigmund Freud's notion of the superego suggested that parents and parent surrogates (teachers, uncles, aunts) comprise the superego which shapes the development of the ego. If we extend Freud's sense of the superego to mean culture itself and all of the elements of culture which surround the individual we get a broader more accurate sense of the forces that shape the "self". Within this idea, ID Groups can be seen as something like "group role models." How the individual perceives the attributes of the ID Groups with which he identifies tells us something about how he sees himself. If he can not expose his feelings toward himself, he may be more revealing when describing his ID Group(s). Since members of ID Groups have a sense of joint destiny, we can see something of the individuals expectations for himself in his view of the expectations for his ID Group. How he prioritizes his various ID Groups will be useful in understanding his relative values.
For ourselves, as individuals, the ID Group concept allows us to refuse the trap of limiting our sense of identity, our egos, to only one reference. We are but one, but that one is many.
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