Recognition of social identities as a mechanism to increase the resilience of individuals, liberal democracies, and societies

Abstract

This Ph.D. thesis investigates how recognition of social identities may serve as a mechanism to increase the resilience of individuals, liberal democracies, and societies. This topic is highly relevant in political and societal terms due to the polycrisis of Western societies. I present a possible mechanism for overcoming the polycrisis in the form of the recognition of social identities to in-crease resilience. My dissertation makes three contributions to expand the current state of re-search. 1) From a theoretical perspective, I synthesize Tajfel and Turner's Social Identity Theory (SIT, 1979) with Honneth’s (1992) and Fukuyama's (2019) work on recognition. 2) Methodologically, I develop new items for measuring the recognition of occupational and social class identities. 3) Substantively, I demonstrate in three empirical, peer-reviewed journal articles the assumed connection between the degree of perceived recognition and indicators of resilience in relation to three different crises.

The first paper shows that occupational groups that were particularly challenged during the pandemic (“essential” occupations, careworkers, “base workers”) did experience an increase in symbolic recognition, but that this did not translate into financial compensation. At the same time, it is evident that recognition of occupational identities promotes compliance with infection control measures, enhancing societal resilience during a pandemic. Study 2 addresses the rise of populism. It shows that a lack of recognition of social identities is a significant predictor of populist attitudes, which has hardly been discussed in the extensive literature on the causes of populism to date. In the third paper, I show that the recognition of social class identities correlates positively with the acceptance of climate change mitigation measures.

Despite limitations (cross-sectional data, sample, selection of social identities), the results are promising and already provide a basis for relevant policy recommendations such as increasing the salaries of essential and base workers, involving citizens in policy design, and transparent and honest political communication that also takes citizens' needs into account. With my dissertation, I am making an important contribution to labor market research, and political sociology, and provide a foundation on which future research on the recognition of social identities and its effects on the resilience of individuals, liberal democracies, and societies can build.

References: Fukuyama, F. (2019). Identität: Wie der Verlust der Würde unsere Demokratie gefährdet (3. Auflage). Hoffmann und Campe. Honneth, A. (1992). Kampf um Anerkennung: Zur moralischen Grammatik sozialer Konflikte. Suhrkamp. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks Cole.