Saguy, T., & Sobol-Sarag, D.
The consequences of a sense of loss in common identity: An over-time examination
When group members conceive of themselves as sharing a common identity, intergroup bias is substantially reduced. However, over-time, minorities’ sense of connection to the common category might be compromised, particularly when societal changes undermine cohesion. What happens once a sense of common identity is formed, but then lost? Little work addressed this question. Drawing on research on common identity and minority exclusion, we expected that a sense of common identity loss will predict radical forms of collective action on part of minorities. In recent work (Saguy et al., 2019) we provided support for this prediction in a cross-sectional design conducted among Arab-Druze, a religious minority in Israel. The goal of the present paper is to corroborate these findings using longitudinal data. We surveyed Arab-Druze in Israel at two points in time, before and after national elections that had the potential to provoke a sense of common identity loss. Findings replicated our previous work, showing that among younger Druze, overtime increase in the sense of common identity loss is predictive of over-time increase in motivation for violent action. Findings remained stable after controlling for more classic predictors of violent and nonviolent action.
Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 2022, Vol. 29, pp. 71-84, DOI: 10.4473/TPM29.1.6
