Shared emergent identity from common fate explains collective support amid disasters

Evidence

In this review article, I will provide an overview and integration of recent research that has served to develop a social identity model of collective behaviour in emergencies and disasters. Specifically, following self-categorisation theory (SCT) (Turner, 1982, 1985; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987; Turner, Oakes, Haslam, & McGarty, 1994), I will argue that collective behaviour is possible in ad hoc crowds in an emergency or disaster through participants sharing an (emergent) social identity in the event. I will suggest that this shared social identity is also the basis of the motivation to support others affected by the emergency, and that the source of shared identity in these situations is the comparative context – specifically the common fate experienced by survivors. In this account, variability in the level of collective behaviour across different emergencies and disasters can be (partly) explained by variation in the level of shared social identification. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 15

Crucially, these findings have served to both substantiate and develop the social identity account of mass emergency behaviour in a number of ways. Thus, the study has for the first time demonstrated the role of expected support as a fulcrum for solidarity processes in disasters. The results are in line with a social identity model in which expected support arises from shared social identity—we expect support from them because ‘they’ are ‘us’—and enhances collective efficacy and participation in coordinated social support —we feel able to act and we take collective action because we know that others will join in (Drury, 2012). Moreover, by distinguishing between different forms of social support—emotional and coordinated—which in previous analyses were simply run together, this study has been able to show the different pathways to each. — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 130

ABSTRACT This review provides a new integration of recent research that has formed the basis of a social identity explanation of supportive collective behaviour among survivors in emergencies and disasters. I describe a model in which a sense of common fate is the source of an emergent shared social identity among survivors, which in turn provides the motivation to give social support to others affected. … It will be argued that the model can been applied to explaining how potentially dangerous crowd events avoid disaster: shared social identity operates as the basis of spontaneous self-organisation in these cases, as in many emergencies and disasters. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 7

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the social identity model: emergent shared identity, arising from common fate, motivates mutual support among strangers in a crowd.
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the sacrifice and trees pieces only tangentially; more centrally this frames emergencies as moments where strangers become an in-group, useful background for the ‘Grafting’ piece’s argument about crowds/communities acting as infrastructure.
• XREF: This is the Drury et al. emergency social-identity literature that serves as the reader’s strongest empirical program for solidarity formation without out-group threat. — connects to: Shared social identity is the causal variable predicting solidarity among disaster strangers. — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 26; Post-disaster solidarity toward strangers stems from emergent shared social identity, not prior personal ties. — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 118; Shared social identity produces adaptive psychosocial resilience that aids group survival in emergencies. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 107 (+21 more)
• corroborated: 9 independent passages support this claim — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 15; John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 130; John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 7

Related

• Shared fate in danger makes strangers act as one group offering help. (similarity 0.93)
• Shared social identity produces adaptive psychosocial resilience that aids group survival in emergencies. (similarity 0.93)
• Shared identity that enables crowd helping often emerges during an emergency rather than pre-existing. (similarity 0.93)
• Disaster survivors who feel shared fate identify socially and give emotional support (similarity 0.92)
• A shared identity can emerge within a crowd only after an emergency begins. (similarity 0.92)
• Social support in disasters ranges from individual acts to collective cooperation. (similarity 0.91)
• Shared social identity is the causal variable predicting solidarity among disaster strangers. (similarity 0.90)
• Post-disaster solidarity toward strangers stems from emergent shared social identity, not prior personal ties. (similarity 0.90)
• Shared identity can emerge rapidly during, not before, an emergency. (similarity 0.90)
• Existing social bonds do not always explain emergency collective behaviour (similarity 0.90)
• Shared identity turns crowds from irrational mobs into solidarity-based adaptive resources (similarity 0.90)
• Solidarity among emergency survivors stems from perceiving strangers as oneself. (similarity 0.90)
• People act collectively in emergencies despite being conditioned toward individual self-interest. (similarity 0.89)
• Emergency responders should deliberately cultivate shared identity with survivors. (similarity 0.89)
• Shared danger makes people feel close to strangers and motivates mutual help. (similarity 0.89)

Broader Connections

• Shared social identity is the causal variable predicting solidarity among disaster strangers. #corroborates (0.92) — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 26
• Post-disaster solidarity toward strangers stems from emergent shared social identity, not prior personal ties. #expands (0.90) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 118
• Disaster survivors who feel shared fate identify socially and give emotional support #corroborates (0.90) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 73
• Facing a shared threat transforms individuals into a psychological crowd with emergent shared identity #expands (0.80) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 49
• Mass emergency behaviour stems from social identity, not panic or irrationality #expands (0.80) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 122
• Flood survivors’ shared identity predicts their well-being through expected support months later #expands (0.78) — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 34
• Shared social identity produces adaptive psychosocial resilience that aids group survival in emergencies. #expands (0.75) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 107
• Existing friendship and family bonds shape cooperative evacuation behavior. #complicates (0.75) — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 14
• Shared identity generates expectations of support and trust among group members #expands (0.72) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 16
• Shared catastrophe briefly unites people across difference before giving way to division and reprisal #qualifies (0.72)
• Mutual acknowledgment of shared fragility binds speculative communities together #expands (0.71) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 27