Social Identity Under Various Sociocultural Conditions

This article presents an empirical study of social identity. The purpose of the study is to make a comparative social and psychological analysis of the main characteristics of identification of college students enrolled in higher pedagogical institutions in three countries--Russia, Poland, and the Netherlands. The sample is comprised of college students in the same faculties and age groups: 177 from Iaroslavl, 88 from Poland, and 30 from the Netherlands. The tasks of the study included: (a) a comparison of the characteristics of identity among the students of the three countries; and (b) a comparison of the dynamics of certain indicators of social identity in the group of Russian college students over the span of number of years. A modified version of the "twenty questions" method, which is in widespread use in social and psychological research on identity, is used in the study. The results obtained with the method showed that in contrast to the Dutch students, the Russians and the Polish students had higher indicators of the personal self (p less than or equal 0.05), level of family identity (p less than or equal 0.05), local identity (p less than or equal 0.05), global self (p less than or equal 0.05), and subjective description of appearance (p less than 0.05). The comparative study shows that under the conditions of a crisis of identity, self-determination is a contradictory and complex process. Social conditions affect the process of identification and a crisis of identity leads to a change in its structure. The results of the study confirm and supplement data reflecting changes in the indicators of social identity under the influence of powerful social changes. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)