Group consciousness (political science)

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Group consciousness in political science refers to the phenomenon in which members within a social identity group become aware of how their group identification impacts their position in society, and therefore come together to pursue collective action to advocate for their shared interests. [1] [2] Group consciousness requires two necessary preconditions: group membership, and group identification. [1] Group membership is the 'objective' belonging within the group, while identification refers to the subjective psychological importance of the group to the member. [1] Group consciousness has been studied, for example, among women, [3] Hispanic and Latino Americans, [4] and Muslim Americans. [5]

Contents

The intent behind group consciousness

Group consciousness is not automatically assumed to exist with any organization of people. However, group consciousness often stems from the existence of group agents. These organizations bring people together through common purposes and intentions that they act upon. Some examples of group agents include courts, corporations, NGOs, and other collectives of individuals. [6] Group consciousness requires unity through the group's belief in a set of "ideological beliefs about one's group's social standing." Groups also take on the view that to improve their social standing and best reach their goals, the best policy is to pursue collective action. [7]

Beyond formal organizations like corporations and nonprofits, group consciousness is often linked to socially stratified groups, including class, gender, race, etc. When discussing racial consciousness specifically, group consciousness emerges from the notion that people's identities are inseparable from their race. As a result, minority groups, particularly oppressed minority groups, band together to find a source of communal support. In America specifically, African-Americans specifically have been historically treated as part of a racial group, instead of recognized for their individual identities. Researchers have therefore connected this idea of "linked fate," meaning the viewpoint that one's fate is "inextricably linked to the fate of their racial group" to a heightened sense of group consciousness. [7]

Current debate regarding group consciousness qualifications

One key point of contention within the philosophy is whether or not the “consciousness” of a group can be phenomenal, meaning experiential, or if it is purely a sense of awareness. [6] [8] The argument has been made that entire states can be “phenomenally conscious,” meaning they can subjectively experience perceptions and sensations as one entity. In his paper “If Materialism is True, the United States is Probably Conscious,” philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel argues that the United States experiences a consciousness that overrides individual citizens. Schwitzgebel posits that through using materialist philosophy, it may be argued that the United States has the characteristics also present in what materialists consider to be “conscious beings.” In this case, we can take materialism to mean the belief that solely matter, rather than the mind or ideas, can be treated as real objects. In the context of group consciousness, this refers to the controversial debate over whether a group can function as its own being, or if group consciousness is primarily a metaphor. Schwitzgebel believes in the former. He states that the US is self-preserving, goal-oriented, and can respond intelligently to threats and opportunities. The US functions as an individual entity. Thus, the United States can be said to have a concrete identity through Schwitzgebel's interpretation of group consciousness. [8]

However, philosophers like Christian List also posit that group agents are not necessarily phenomenally conscious. Within his paper, "What Is It Like to Be a Group Agent?" he argues that there is an important distinction that must be made between consciousness as awareness and as experience. List posits that group agents are able to have consciousness as awareness. A group agent may share beliefs and act on then, but it is the individuals in this group, who are aware of their shared identity, who are performing the action. Group consciousness thus doesn't mean that a group can act as a true collective singular; it only facilitates collective action. [6]

Group consciousness within feminism

Feminist consciousness is defined as "politicized gender identification," which is when women link their gender identity and the societal issues that arise alongside it with a set of political beliefs. Based on research regarding women's rights activism, personality and life experiences can be seen as factors that lead to feminist consciousness. For instance, women who are more politically engaged tend to embrace feminism and feminist activism than women who are not. In addition, women with intersectional identities, meaning women who identify with more than one marginalized female identity, are also more likely to be very aware of their group membership and thus develop group consciousness. For example, lesbians experience discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender; they are therefore more likely to be aware of their oppression and seek solace in group solidarity. [9] Viewing feminism as a case study for group consciousness demonstrates how even within collective action entities, there are outside factors that influence the extent to which members are willing to participate.

See also

Related Research Articles

An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Formerly applied primarily to economic, political, or religious theories and policies, in a tradition going back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, more recent use treats the term as mainly condemnatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crowd psychology</span> Branch of social psychology

A category of social psychology known as "crowd psychology," or "mob psychology," examines how the psychology of a group of people differs from the psychology of any one person within the group. The study of crowd psychology looks into the actions and thought processes of both the individual members of the crowd and the crowd as a collective social entity. The behavior of a crowd is much influenced by deindividuation, a person's loss of responsibility, and the person's impression of the universality of behavior, both of which conditions increase in magnitude with size of the crowd. Notable theorists in crowd psychology include Gustave Le Bon, Gabriel Tarde, and Sigmund Freud. Many of these theories are today tested or used to simulate crowd behaviors in normal or emergency situations. One of the main focuses in these simulation works is to prevent crowd crushes and stampedes.

Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class. The term could also encompass other social phenomena which are not commonly understood as exemplifying identity politics, such as governmental migration policy that regulates mobility based on identities, or far-right nationalist agendas of exclusion of national or ethnic others. For this reason, Kurzwelly, Pérez and Spiegel, who discuss several possible definitions of the term, argue that it is an analytically imprecise concept.

Social consciousness or social awareness, is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.

Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or a group.

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Consciousness raising is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or condition. Common issues include diseases, conflicts, movements and political parties or politicians. Since informing the populace of a public concern is often regarded as the first step to changing how the institutions handle it, raising awareness is often the first activity in which any advocacy group engages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National identity</span> Identity or sense of belonging to one state or one nation

National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language".

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Standpoint feminism is a theory that feminist social science should be practiced from the standpoint of women or particular groups of women, as some scholars say that they are better equipped to understand some aspects of the world. A feminist or women's standpoint epistemology proposes to make women's experiences the point of departure, in addition to, and sometimes instead of men's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of human consciousness</span> Aspect of sociology

The sociology of human consciousness or the sociology of consciousness uses the theories and methodology of sociology to explore and examine consciousness.

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Marxian class theory asserts that an individual's position within a class hierarchy is determined by their role in the production process, and argues that political and ideological consciousness is determined by class position. A class is those who share common economic interests, are conscious of those interests, and engage in collective action which advances those interests. Within Marxian class theory, the structure of the production process forms the basis of class construction.

In social psychology, self-stereotyping is a process by which an individual integrates and internalizes commonly held characterizations of an in-group into their self-concept. It is described as part of social identity theory (SIT) and, more specifically, self-categorization theory (SCT).

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<i>Black Feminist Thought</i> 1990 book by Patricia Hill Collins

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment is a 1990 book by Patricia Hill Collins.

Linked fate is a concept in political science which describes the mechanism by which group consciousness leads to political cohesion among members of a social identity group. It originated in African-American studies, as individuals who perceived their fates as individuals to be highly linked to those of other in-group members were posited to be more conscious of the group's interests as whole when making political decisions. Furthermore, notions of linked fate have been observed among Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Muslim Americans.

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The Conscious Community, also known as the Black Conscious Community and the African Conscious Community, is a loose affiliation of allied groups composed of individuals from the African diaspora and from Africa. Pan-Africanism, Afrocentrism, Afrofuturism, Black Nationalism, and Black Liberation Religion/Spirituality are foundational sources for the ideologies found among individuals in the Black Conscious Community.

Utopia denotes an imagined ideal society that, though nonexistent in reality, is envisioned as a perfect habitat for its members. The term gained widespread usage following the publication of Thomas More's 1516 book Utopia. Building upon the work of sociologist Ruth Levitas, social psychologists have tested the functions of utopian thinking among people. Utopia is fundamentally a cultural and psychological concept, existing solely as symbols within people's minds. Empirical evidence supports the connections between utopian thinking and the three primary functions proposed by Levitas: criticism, change, and compensation. Theoretical models have been developed linking utopian thinking to established social psychological concepts such as collective action and system justification.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Conover, Pamela Johnston (1988). "The Role of Social Groups in Political Thinking". British Journal of Political Science. 18 (1): 51–76. doi:10.1017/S0007123400004956. ISSN   0007-1234. JSTOR   193688. S2CID   154619461.
  2. ↑ Miller, Arthur H.; Gurin, Patricia; Gurin, Gerald; Malanchuk, Oksana (1981). "Group Consciousness and Political Participation". American Journal of Political Science. 25 (3): 494–511. doi:10.2307/2110816. ISSN   0092-5853. JSTOR   2110816.
  3. ↑ Henderson-King, Donna H.; Stewart, Abigail J. (1994). "Women or feminists? Assessing women's group consciousness". Sex Roles. 31 (9–10): 505–516. doi:10.1007/bf01544276. hdl: 2027.42/45607 . ISSN   0360-0025. S2CID   12961231.
  4. ↑ Stokes, Atiya Kai (July 2003). "Latino Group Consciousness and Political Participation". American Politics Research. 31 (4): 361–378. doi:10.1177/1532673x03031004002. ISSN   1532-673X. S2CID   144333828.
  5. ↑ Jamal, Amaney (2005). "The Political Participation and Engagement of Muslim Americans". American Politics Research. 33 (4): 521–544. doi:10.1177/1532673x04271385. ISSN   1532-673X. S2CID   154991564.
  6. 1 2 3 List, Christian (July 2015). "What is It Like to be a Group Agent?" (PDF). CORE. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  7. 1 2 McClain, Paula D.; Johnson Carew, Jessica D.; Walton, Eugene; Watts, Candis S. (June 2009). "Group Membership, Group Identity, and Group Consciousness: Measures of Racial Identity in American Politics?". Annual Review of Political Science. 12 (1): 471–485. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.102452 . ISSN   1094-2939.
  8. 1 2 Schwitzgebel, Eric (2015-07-01). "If materialism is true, the United States is probably conscious". Philosophical Studies. 172 (7): 1697–1721. doi:10.1007/s11098-014-0387-8. ISSN   1573-0883. S2CID   254933849.
  9. ↑ Duncan, Lauren E. (1999). "Motivation for Collective Action: Group Consciousness as Mediator of Personality, Life Experiences, and Women's Rights Activism". Political Psychology. 20 (3): 611–635. doi:10.1111/0162-895X.00159. ISSN   0162-895X. JSTOR   3792164.
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