group identity

"Draws on history, psychology, and anthropology to discuss how the tribal connection--the instinct to belong to small groups with a clear purpose and common understanding--can satisfy the human quest for meaning and belonging,"--NoveList.

Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians -- but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life. The loss of closeness that comes at the end of deployment may help explain the high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by military veterans today. Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, TRIBE explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that -- for many veterans as well as civilians -- war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. TRIBE explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world.

Jane Re--a half-Korean, half-American orphan--takes a position as an au pair for two Brooklyn academics and their daughter, but a brief sojourn in Seoul, where she reconnects with family, causes her to wonder if the man she loves is really the man for her as she tries to find balance between two cultures.

Desperate for a new life, Korean-American Jane Re is thrilled to get out of her strict Korean family by way of becoming the au pair for a wealthy Brooklyn family, which comes along with lectures on feminism, as well as the male attentions of Ed Farley. Then a family member dies in Seoul, calling a halt to Jane and Ed's growing romance. Jane struggles to learn the modern ways of Korea, and when she returns to America she realizes she has changed, maybe too much to keep up her relationship.

Explores the claims of individuality, in which a person creates their own life, and the claims of identity, the large and abstract social categories through which people define themselves.

Journalist Robbins explores the ways group identity theories play out among cliques--and the students they exclude. She reveals the new labels students stick onto each other today, the long-term effects of this marginalization, and the reasons students in these categories are often shunned. Then she celebrates them. The homogenization of the US education system has made outcasts more important than ever. In this conformist, creativity-stifling society, the innovation, courage, and differences of outcasts--nerds, weirdos, punks, etc.--are crucial to progress. Robbins intertwines psychology with science, addressing questions such as "Why are popular people mean?" and "Why do social labels stick?" As in Pledged and The Overachievers, Robbins follows students through the course of a year. In her other books, however, Robbins merely observed students. This time, she forces them to examine who they are and how other students perceive them, then dares them to step outside of their comfort zone to attempt social experiments at their schools--experiments that end up changing their lives.--From publisher description.

Debates whether new immigrants should maintain their cultural identity, or become "Americanized.".

Alexandra Robbins explores the ways group identity theories play out among cliques and among students they exclude, revealing the labels students stick onto each other, the long-term effects of this marginalization, and the reasons students falling under these categories are often shunned and celebrates them as a crucial piece of American culture, inspiring the outcasts--nerds, freaks, weirdos, punks, and Goths--to be more creative and inspired and helping them become larger players in American society as they enter the real world.

Examines the concept of identity and its effects on individuals' attitudes and, thereby, world relations, including abuses of power, terrorism, and war.

Examines the role of what the author calls identity contingencies in the lives of individuals and in society as a whole, focusing on stereotype threat, arguing that people who believe they may be judged based on a bad stereotype do not perform as well, and showing how to overcome the problem.