This edition first published 2020
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
9781118719299
Cover image: Werner Bischot / Magnum photos
Cover design by Wiley
This book is dedicated to:
Issa, Celia and Lily (by Rupert)
and
Nina and Mirona (by Sam)
This book has a long history. Thirty years ago, one of us (Rupert) was presumptuous enough to think that he could write a book that would integrate what we then knew about social processes operating within small groups with the newly emerging field of intergroup relations (Brown 1988). In the event, the book did well enough to warrant a second edition and 12 years later, it duly made its appearance (Brown 2000). That revision was essentially an updating of the first edition to take account of the huge expansion of the field of group processes over the preceding decade. However, its basic structure – and much of its content – was unchanged.
A few more years went by, enough time to convince the publishers that a third edition was now due. However, the idea of simply updating and enlarging the book yet again was not very appealing. Not only was the task of coming to grips with the mushrooming literature on groups rather a daunting one but also the book was in danger of losing any coherence it might once have had if the new material was simply to be tacked onto the existing structure. It became clear that, if a third edition was to be written, it should not be written alone.
With that thought in mind, Rupert approached his colleague Sam to join him in tackling the new edition. They quickly decided that a radical overhaul was needed. In place of the rather eclectic approach adopted in the earlier editions, they sought to make the book more thematic by organising it around three inter-linked ideas: Social Identity, Social Context and Social Action.
Groups provide people with a sense of who they are – and who they are not – and much of what happens within and between groups can be understood as attempts by people to express, clarify, or defend their social identity. But social identities do not drop from the ether fully formed, nor are they immutable entities, fixed for life. They emerge from particular social contexts as people react to and strive to make sense of their social worlds. As those contexts change, so do identities. And, last but not least, groups are a primary vehicle of social action, by means of which people often seek to achieve change in their environments.
Armed with these three themes, we set about completely reorganising the book. Most of the chapter titles are completely new as, indeed, is the material they contain. So, although the title on the cover of the book is unchanged, what is contained in the pages within is quite different. This is partly to give expression to those three recurring themes, but it also reflects our several and joint research preoccupations. We have sought to do justice to what we see as the most interesting of contemporary research on groups but, in doing so, we have tried also not to lose sight of classic contributions. We are not big fans of the ‘cult of the new’; in our view, there is much in the history of our discipline which should be remembered and respected (and, of course, some which quite properly deserves to be consigned to oblivion).
We also wanted to offer a critical appraisal of theory and research on groups, rather than presenting a bland overview. So, on occasion, we have not hesitated to say why we think a theoretical perspective is misguided or myopic. We have also taken the liberty of liberally illustrating our discussion with topical examples drawn from the worlds of sport, contemporary culture and politics. Our readers may not always agree with us, either in the positions we take or the examples we choose, but we hope that they will at least not be bored.
It is customary to conclude a Preface with some acknowledgements, and we do so gladly here. We are both indebted to our many mentors and colleagues, past and present. Most notably, and in alphabetical order: Hector Carvacho, Chris Cohrs, Kay Deaux, John Drury, Sam Gaertner, Mirona Gheorghiu, Roberto Gonzalez, Miles Hewstone, Nick Hopkins, Colin Leach, Ken Mavor, Fergus Neville, Steve Reicher, Clifford Stevenson, Henri Tajfel, Nicole Tausch, Viv Vignoles and Hanna Zagefka.
Rupert Brown
University of Sussex
Sam Pehrson
University of St Andrews
April 2019