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Chapter 4 - The Social Identity Approach to Health

from Section 1 - Schooling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2019

By
S. Alexander Haslam ,
Jolanda Jetten  and
Catherine Haslam
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
S. Alexander Haslam ,
Catherine Haslam ,
Kamaldeep S. Bhui  and
Susan Bailey
Edited in association with
Daniel Maughan
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Healthplanning Ltd.
S. Alexander Haslam
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Catherine Haslam
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Kamaldeep S. Bhui
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
Susan Bailey
Affiliation:
Centre for Mental Health
Daniel Maughan
Affiliation:
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
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Summary

One of the central ideas that is explored throughout this book is that people’s social lives and the social worlds they inhabit have a critical bearing on their health. At one level this message is uncontroversial. There is, after all, plenty of evidence both that social contact, social connections and a rich social life are good for one’s wellbeing (House et al., 1988) and, that those people who are disadvantaged in this respect as a result, for example, of poverty, prejudice or other forms of social exclusion suffer from relatively poor health outcomes (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003). In this chapter, though, we present a rather more nuanced analysis, which suggests that particular forms of social interaction have an especially important role to play in these dynamics. They are those forms that are grounded in shared social identity, an internalised sense of shared group membership, and an associated sense that one is part of a bigger ‘us’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Social Scaffolding
Applying the Lessons of Contemporary Social Science to Health and Healthcare
 , pp. 31 - 39
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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