Mixed-identity individuals cannot pursue collective status mobility without being accepted as group members

Evidence

In the social competition strategy, members of the lower status group engage in intergroup competition with the higher status group to achieve a change in the status hierarchy (Tajfel and Turner 1979). As noted in the considerations on social creativity strategies, a change of the relative status positions of both of Mixed individuals’ ingroups may not result in self-esteem-serving outcomes, as it does not resolve the presumably unsatisfactory state of belonging to both the high and the low status groups. Hence, Mixed individuals may adopt this strategy only if it has the potential to reduce status differences between their ingroups or create equal status for both of their ingroups. However, they may engage in social competition toward outgroups that are not part of their racial–ethnic background. But we assume that to adopt such a group-based strategy, it may be important to be accepted as a member in the respective (lower status) group, which is not necessarily true for some Mixed individuals (e.g., Albuja et al. 2019; Campion 2019). — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 70

Categorization

• QUESTION: Directly relevant to the reader’s purpose: does being denied membership in the lower-status ingroup block the collective strategy that protective solidarity would otherwise license?
• XREF: Connects to Social Identity Theory’s status-strategy typology (Tajfel & Turner) and how acceptance/recognition mediates strategy uptake. — connects to: Perceived mobility makes people pursue the status forms they lack — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 91; Social identity theories presume unambiguous single-category membership that mixed individuals lack — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 16; Mixed-identity members may exit a rejecting group rather than fight for inclusion — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 109 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Mixed-identity members may exit a rejecting group rather than fight for inclusion #responds-to (0.85) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 109
• Mixed individuals often fall back on individual mobility rather than collective status strategies #corroborates (0.82) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 71
• Mixed-identity individuals shift ingroup identification according to which dimension holds higher status #qualifies (0.75) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 73