Perceived permeability of group boundaries dictates whether status change is sought individually or collectively.

Evidence

SIT postulates that the adoption of these strategies by lower status group members is contingent on their beliefs system, that is, their beliefs about the relative controllability, stability and legitimacy of group membership and group status positions (Tajfel and Turner 1979). Individuals who perceive social group memberships as flexible and changeable and the boundaries between groups to be permeable hold a social mobility belief system (Tajfel and Turner 1979). Within this belief system, change can be achieved individually by changing one’s group membership. On the other hand, individuals who perceive social group memberships to be fixed and unchangeable, and group boundaries to be impermeable, hold a social change belief system. In such a belief system, individual mobility strategies are perceived to be impossible or undesirable and may even be punished (Tajfel and Turner 1979). Any desired change of group status is thus expected to be achievable only via collective action. Which of these belief systems a person develops is influenced by personal factors but it also correlates with the actual stratification of a social system. That is, in a society where moving up the status hierarchy is impossible or very unlikely, people will more likely develop a social change belief system rather than a social mobility belief system (and vice versa). — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 84

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes social mobility vs. social change belief systems — central SIT constructs the reader’s mixed-identity analysis will need.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how ingroup pressures differ for internally heterogeneous members; belief-system framing maps onto how permeable/legitimate mixed people judge category boundaries to be. — connects to: Visible group distinctions make people link personal needs to group status — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1473; Beliefs about group boundary permeability shape whether individual or collective strategies are adopted — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 77; Perceiving group boundaries as impermeable and status as illegitimate boosts ingroup favoritism — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 974 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Beliefs about group boundary permeability shape whether individual or collective strategies are adopted #corroborates (0.97) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 77
• Perceived changeability, not status difference itself, determines intergroup comparison meaningfulness #corroborates (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2753
• Perceiving group boundaries as impermeable and status as illegitimate boosts ingroup favoritism #qualifies (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 974
• Visible group distinctions make people link personal needs to group status #expands (0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1473
• Visible group distinctions make people attach personal needs to group status, fueling competition. #expands (0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1473