Social category definitions both reflect context and actively remake social relations

Evidence

Self-categorization theorists view social categories in relation to social reality (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987; Turner, Oakes, Haslam, & McGarty, 1994). They stress the ways in which categories reflect the existing structure of social relations in a given context and hence how they change along with the changing structure of context (Haslam & Turner, 1992, 1995; Oakes, Haslam, & Turner, 1994). However, Reicher and Hopkins (1996a,1996b, 2001, 2003; Hopkins & Reicher, 1997a,1997b; Hopkins, Reicher, & Kahani-Hopkins, 2003; Kahani-Hopkins & Hopkins, 2002; Reicher, Drury, Hopkins, & Stott, 2001) have complemented this analysis by addressing the other side of the equation— the way in which category definitions are used to create new structures of social relations in the future. That is, these researchers explore the manner in which category definitions shape mass mobilizations which in turn have the potential to shape social reality. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 79

Categorization

• DEFINE: Identifies the two-sided social reality-social category relationship that frames the whole literature.
• XREF: Directly serves the reading purpose about threat-framing as description: the ‘two-sided’ view means leaders’ category claims are never merely descriptive. — connects to: Category definitions determine who mobilizes, for what, and who leads — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 75; Leaders strategically define social categories to advance their mobilization projects — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 80; Durkheim and Mauss argued cognitive categories derive from social relations (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Knowing social relations as historically formed already modifies them #expands (0.82) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1260
• Social categories embed buried power relations that etymology can unearth. #exemplifies (0.80)
• Emphasizing or de-emphasizing social boundaries each yields distinct relational possibilities #expands (0.78) — Farhan Samanani, Conviviality and its others, 51
• Durkheim and Mauss argued cognitive categories derive from social relations #responds-to (0.75)
• Social categories both order the world and define the self’s place in it #expands (0.74)
• Social categories function as cognitive tools that position the self comparatively #expands (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2716