A spellbinding leader’s identity analogies succeed only when followers co-develop them
Evidence
These points are well illustrated by the way in which DMp in his conversations with his cell-mates uses analogies between the uniforms of prisoners and those of workers and also draws upon the heat in the study as a Health and Safety issue in order to make it seem obvious that participants should see themselves as united in opposition to the managing experimenters rather than divided into prisoners and guards. DMp may well have initiated these conversations but their success was dependent upon the way in which the analogies he offered were taken up and developed with equal creativity by his interlocutors. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 113
Categorization
- ADDENDUM: The prisoner-leader redefining a prison study’s heat as a workplace Health and Safety grievance is a sharp instance of re-framing threat as shared identity — usable as support for the sacrifice/complaint angle of prior articles.
- FICTION: A leadership-framing device story seed: an inmate-leader turning mundane discomfort into a solidarity-boundary could inspire a prison or group-survival narrative.
- XREF: connects to: No stable traits distinguish leaders from followers or predict effectiveness — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 27; Charisma is conferred on leaders by followers rather than held as a trait — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 33; Leadership acts on followers through collective group norms, not just individual exchange — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 34 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Leadership requires shared identity but also active identity entrepreneurship by leaders.
#qualifies(0.72) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 124