Unsatisfactory group identity drives exit or group improvement efforts

Evidence

When social identity is unsatisfactory, individuals will strive either to leave their existing group and join some more positively distinct group and/or to make their existing group more positively distinct. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2720

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the two proposed individual-level responses to a negative social identity: exit or elevate.
• XREF: connects to: Low-status group members exit when subcultures offer a destination — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 400; Identity denial decreases belonging, then increases effort to regain inclusion in the excluding group. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 108; Identity denial lowers belonging yet raises the need for the group — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 108 (+1 more)