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It is well documented that motherhood influences gendered outcomes in work institutions. However, how paid work influences women's private sphere and sense of self remains unclear and could vary across societies. This article focuses on identity construction among 28 college‐educated stay‐at‐home mothers in Shanghai. The findings from semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews reveal tension negotiation and reconciliation within these mothers' multiple self‐identities. Despite choosing to voluntarily leave their paid jobs and become stay‐at‐home mothers, participants differentiated between their maternal identity and their stay‐at‐home mother identity; in particular, they perceived motherhood as more valuable and socially acceptable than the choice to be a stay‐at‐home mother (i.e., participants readily identified as mothers but hesitated to describe themselves as stay‐at‐home mothers). To avoid this tension and protect their self‐image, participants incorporated aspects of their previous working identity into their stay‐at‐home mother identity, such as taking part‐time jobs and framing their childrearing experience as a future career asset. The results help explain how the notion of work shapes women's self‐image, even when they leave the labor market. Overall, the findings reinforce mothering imperatives and identities and the need to understand them from a cross‐cultural perspective in relation to societal prevailing gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the pending challenges facing Education for Sustainable Development is to change students' behavior in favor of sustainability so that these are lasting and even transferable to other people. This study analyzes how various psychological factors, including motivation, attitudes, beliefs and emotions, can be channeled to enhance social and ecological awareness through education. This paper presents an innovative approach to Sustainable Development (SD) in education, focusing on Physical Education. It highlights the intersection of Psychology, education and sustainability, showing how the first two can contribute significantly to lasting changes in students' behavior. Based on this, the Intervention Model for Sustainable Development in Physical Education (PESDIM), which combines psychological theories with specific educational strategies, is presented. In this model, which can be replicated in other educational disciplines, psychological theories are based on social interaction and norms, identity construction, motivation, beliefs and individual efficacy to improve awareness of sustainable development. The paper highlights the need for a holistic and practical approach to sustainability education in general and Physical Education in particular, stresses the importance of psychology and advocates for an educational transformation that holistically integrates sustainability into teaching methods and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many professions experience unique events that highlight their relevance and value. These positive profession‐spotlighting events may significantly influence employees' professional identification, especially for novices in the highlighted professions. In this paper, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon. Drawing on the identity construction process model, we investigate how and why positive profession‐spotlighting events influence novices' professional identification. In Study 1, using 10‐wave longitudinal data (five waves before and five after the outbreak of COVID‐19) collected from 322 new graduate nurses, we use discontinuous growth modeling to investigate the impact of the pandemic as a positive profession‐spotlighting event on their increase in professional identification. We found that new graduate nurses' professional identification gradually fell during their initial months in professional practice but rose dramatically after the onset of COVID‐19. We also found that sensegiving and moral elevation during the event led to an increase in professional identification. We further theorize an increase in work meaningfulness as the core mechanism for the hypothesized relationships and obtain supporting evidence from one experiment (Study 2) and two quasi‐experiments (Studies 3a and 3b). Our research reveals the significant influence of positive profession‐spotlighting events on both the identity construction and socialization processes and offers practical implications for how to manage such events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In families of children with a neurodisability, siblings have unique experiences that can shape their identity. There is limited information about the developmental process of how siblings form their identity. This study aims to understand the identity construction of young siblings who have a sibling with a neurodisability. Methods: As part of a patient‐oriented research program, we engaged with our Sibling Youth Advisory Council in Canada. In this qualitative case study, data from semi‐structured interviews augmented by photo elicitation and graphic elicitation of relational maps were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Nineteen sibling participants (median age = 19 years, range = 14–33 years) reflected on the uniqueness of their role during childhood. During adolescence and emerging adulthood, they became closer with their sibling with a neurodisability and increased communication with their parents about how to care for their sibling with a neurodisability. These experiences influenced how they explored and began to reconcile their sibling identity with their professional and social identities. Conclusion: Siblings of youth with a neurodisability discover their unique identity and require support in this developmental process. Future interventions could evaluate how supports for siblings can have an impact on the positive development of their identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore how English language teachers construct and enact their teacher identities. The data was collected through semi‐structured interviews with four in‐service English language teachers at Turkish public schools. The findings revealed certain identity stabilizers: the fascination with subject and the job, caring for students and the relationships with students and former teachers. Although the teachers took two distinctive pathways—the meant to be route and the higher education route—the job experiences of those taking the same route to teaching were quite different. Varying levels of exersion of teacher agency to attain alignment between imagined and actual identities and rare opportunities for legitimate participation and job socialization were effective in the actualization of personal and professional values distinctively. The findings enhance our understanding of how teacher identity is contextually and relationally constructed and offer implications for teacher education and sustainable identity‐oriented professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is Chinese nationalism? Is nationalism the most effective framework for understanding how people in China are making sense of the world today? These are among the questions raised by Allen Carlson in his 2009 article 'A flawed perspective: the limitations inherent within the study of Chinese nationalism', which developed a provocative critique of decades of scholarship. Acknowledging the insights of Carlton's questions while disagreeing with his proposed conceptual shift towards national identity construction, I propose a further shift towards national identity deconstruction. In doing so, I combine the political insights of Hong Kong nationalists with the theoretical insights of deconstruction. This shift redirects the study of Chinese nationalism away from an abstract conceptualisation of nationalism to a more precise definition of the phenomena under study, as well as moving the debate on potential impacts away from international relations to consideration of the complex dynamics of China's ethnic politics. New definitions of both nationalism and minzu (of minzu zhuyi) are developed, reconceptualising the phenomena heretofore known as 'Chinese nationalism' as external symptoms of underlying tensions between conflicting identity narratives. In conclusion, the practical implications of this reconceptualisation are considered, exploring potential future paths for the People's Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed‐methods study explores the efficacy of a multidimensional identity measurement tool that aims to represent the diverse language experiences of heritage language learners (HLLs) and heritage language speakers (HLSs). Drawing on the thematic commonalities across 13 definitions of HLLs, a questionnaire was developed to capture age of acquisition, self‐reported proficiency level, home exposure, language maintenance efforts, and cultural and familial ties to the heritage community. Questionnaire data spanning HLSs (N = 135) of 41 heritage languages were submitted to K‐means cluster analysis to investigate identity‐based trends across respondents. Interviews (n = 10) and autobiographical essays (n = 4) from a subset of respondents from each resulting cluster were thematically analyzed and used to corroborate descriptive HLS profiles from cluster analysis results. Three HLS profiles emerged from the data set, and their defining characteristics (based on the five HLL identity themes) illustrate the complex interplay of language, culture, family, and education within the HLS population. Qualitative analysis of respondents' perspectives highlights the challenges of quantitatively measuring inherently qualitative experiences. The study concludes with implications for how questionnaire‐based instruments derived from bottom‐up statistical analyses can be leveraged in future research, advancing the agendas of linguists and educators to better understand and support HLSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of addiction seeks to explain why people act contrary to their own best interest. At the centre stage of addiction discourse is craving, conceptualised as a strong urge to use substances. This article analyses how talk therapies such as relapse prevention and self‐help groups shape identity constructions and understandings of craving among clients. Drawing upon interviews with individuals who have engaged in talk therapies in Sweden, we analyse how craving is made up through 'self‐interpellation', that is, personal narratives about past, present or future thoughts, feelings and actions. The main 'self‐interpellation' included multiple selves, where craving was elided by the true self and only felt by the inauthentic self. Less dominant were narratives which drew on a unitary self that remained stable over time and had to fight craving. The notion of multiple selves appeared as a master narrative that the participants were positioned by in their identity constructions. We conclude that this multiplicity seems ontologically demanding for people who try to recover from substance use problems. A demystification of craving, in which neither substance effects nor malfunctioning brains are blamed for seemingly irrational thoughts and actions, may reduce the stigmatisation of those who have developed habitual substance use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The phenomenon of an ageing population is being experienced globally requiring the ongoing provision of residential care services. A large number of registered nurses work in these settings; however, many challenges exist in their recruitment and retention. Objectives: To explore professional identities and emerging discourses of registered nurses working in older person residential care settings. Methods: This study employed a discursive‐based research methodology with a central focus on the role language, and discourses play in identity construction. Fourteen in‐depth narrative interviews were completed with registered nurses in residential care settings in the Republic of Ireland. Thematic analysis was underpinned by a critical discursive psychology framework. Results: Four key identities and related discourses emerged: 'skilled professional identity', 'person‐centred identity', 'subordinate identity' and 'product of healthcare reform identity'. Discourses presented contrasting professional identities held by nurses in residential care settings; on the one hand, they employed positive professional and person‐centred discourses, while on the other hand, tensions associated with healthcare reform and a subordinate identity exist. Conclusions: This study presents unique insights into how registered nurses in residential care construct their professional identity and in doing so, enhances opportunities to promote recruitment and marketing in this setting. Equally, the challenges and opportunities of healthcare reform require sensitive management so that the professional identity of nurses working in residential care is enhanced and protected. Implications for practice: How registered nurses working in residential care settings view their professional identity directly impacts on attitudes and behaviours and the subsequent delivery of care. Greater understanding and insight into how they construct their professional identity may enhance recruitment and retention initiatives. Study results also provide an opportunity for policymakers and service providers to create more positive working environments that promote professional identity development for this nursing group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically the antiabortion movement has opposed abortions through reference to the fetus' human status. However, recently there has been a rhetorical shift whereby abortion is criticized based on its alleged negative psychological impact on women, with some authors voicing concerns related to this medicalized repertoire undermining women's capacity to act as rational decision-makers. However, no research to date has systematically analyzed how women's agency over their abortions features in antiabortion rhetoric. In this article, through a discourse analysis of interviews with 15 antiabortion supporters, I explore how psychological concepts are employed to indirectly undermine women's agency to abort. Participants construct the termination of a pregnancy as psychologically damaging when women's agency is evident (e.g., in abortions or rapepregnancy abortions). Women's choice also appears as enforced by society, victimizing them and removing accountability over it. However, unintentional termination (e.g., miscarriage) is constructed as "natural" and psychologically harmless due to the lack of agency. Overall, the pathologization of abortion through reference to psychological trauma stemming from the exercise of agency allows antiabortionists to naturalize motherhood and oppose abortions in an "objective," depoliticized, nonrestrictive, and prowoman manner, without explicitly disregarding women's ability to choose or breaching Western norms of autonomy and freedom of choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the social management of fatness via an analysis of 4 years of participant‐observation in military‐style fitness boot camps and interviews with camp participants, trainers and organisers/owners. We begin by focusing on popular imagery of the 'boot camp'. The boot camp model takes various forms; yet, whether it involves civilian participants, as on reality television shows, or the imagined military ones of films, the boot camp model emphasises the re‐fashioning of the individual via the disciplining of bodies and selves. Such constructions of boot camps were employed by our respondents to lay claim to identities which highlight their hard work, strength of character, fundamental 'goodness' and self‐discipline, as those qualities are demonstrated through the body – even though participants' actual bodies change little at camp. Such meanings stand in direct contradiction to broader social constructions of fatness and participants' own negative perceptions of fat people. Moreover, even within the camps themselves, such identity claims are contested, both by camp trainers and by slimmer and 'fitter' attendees. These counterclaims are grounded in ideas about the characterological implications of the fat body, beliefs about the purpose of boot camp and notions of the body's capacity for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychological research on activism typically focuses on individuals' social identifications. We complement such research through exploring how activists frame an issue as a social problem. Specifically, we explore anti‐abortion activists' representation of abortion and the abortion debate's protagonists so as to recruit support for the anti‐abortion cause. Using interview data obtained with UK‐based anti‐abortion activists (N = 15), we consider how activists characterized women having abortions, pro‐abortion campaigners, and anti‐abortion campaigners. In particular, we consider the varied ways in which emotion featured in the representation of these social actors. Emotion featured in different ways. Sometimes, it was depicted as constituting embodied testament to the nature of reality. Sometimes, it was depicted as blocking the rational appraisal of reality. Our analysis considers how such varied meanings of emotion shaped the characterization of abortion and the abortion debate's protagonists such that anti‐abortion activists were construed as speaking for women and their interests. We discuss how our analysis of the framing of issues as social problems complements and extends social psychological analyses of activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have considered how labour activation programmes affect participants’ identity construction, particularly from a gender comparison perspective. Using qualitative data and recognition theories, this exploratory study of the Norwegian Qualification Program examined how gender may affect labour activation recipients’ identity construction and sense of social value. The findings suggest that women experience labour activation as an enabling process, facilitating an enhanced sense of social value and status. In contrast, men experience either no such change or a diminution of their sense of worth and status. The study shows how cultural values regarding gender, work and employment are embedded in social work practice and activation policy implementation. Underscoring how activation may be intertwined in such cultural values and norms, the study calls for further research to understand these processes, as they may affect outcomes in labour activation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-economic and health inequality are strongly linked and are increasingly perpetuated by discourses of individual responsibility. However, little research from a critical discursive perspective has addressed how people affected themselves may account for this relationship. This research examined the ways in which people who are in debt, unemployed, or in insecure, minimum-wage employment construct health and negotiate identities around it. Data from semistructured interviews with 6 participants were analysed and 3 main interpretative repertoires were identified: a medical repertoire of health as a lack of illness; health as adopting the 'right' behaviours and attitudes; and health as being heavily influenced by external factors, such as income and life circumstances. The analysis focuses on how participants managed the tension between these latter 2 repertoires by adopting various subject positions around health: that it is 'slipping' away from them; that it requires motivation; and that it is unattainable. Underpinning this is a 'common-sense' idea of health as something that is worked towards through culturally approved actions and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the dynamics that characterize interaction between conversational participants is a fundamental goal of most theories of socially conditioned language use and identity construction through language. In this paper, I outline a class of formal tools that, I suggest, can be helpful in making progress towards this goal. More precisely, this paper explores how Bayesian signalling game models can be used to formalize key aspects of current sociolinguistic theories, and, in doing so, contribute to our knowledge of how speakers use their linguistic resources to communicate information and carve out their place in the social world. The Bayesian framework has become increasingly popular for the analysis of pragmatic phenomena of many different types, and, more generally, these models have become a dominant paradigm for the explanation of non-linguistic cognitive processes. As such, I argue that this approach has the potential to yield a formalized theory of personal and social identity construction and to situate the study of sociolinguistic interaction within a broader theory of rationalistic cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I construct three ideal types of identities operating in the New Orleans gourmet food truck industry (Down-Home, Foreign Foodie type, and Hipster). Using evidence from three years of ethnographic observations, as well as qualitative interviews, I then examine the process of hybridization, in which the two forms of authenticity (food truck and brick-and-mortar) blend together, modifying each original authenticity to create a temporal product, hybrid authenticity. The value of this product is derived from the concrete but temporary relations between the product, the producers, the consumers, and the spaces where the product is produced and consumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective identities are constructed and negotiated in interaction. The dynamics of collective identity construction in the interactions of group members, however, remain understudied. Taking into consideration public discourses of ethnicity and religion in the Netherlands, in this article we explore the uses of narrative in intragroup identity construction among Moroccan- Dutch young adults. In line with theories of intersectionality, we expected intragroup identity construction to be influenced by the specific location of participants in a matrix of intersecting identity categories. Narratives were elicited in focus groups that varied by gender and by the educational level of the participants. We compared the content and import of stories in each group. We found that participants across groups told similar stories in which they referred to the treatment of their group at a societal level. However, we also found that the intersection of ethnicity, gender, and level of educational attainment influenced the way our participants narrated their everyday experiences, and, in particular, their relations with native Dutch neighbors, fellow students, and coworkers. An intersectional analysis shows how, faced with negative stereotypes regarding their ethnic and religious background, Moroccan- Dutch young adults variously accept, reject, and act in relation to those stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Prejudice reduction has been an important concern within social psychology both in theory and applied research. According to the premises of Social Identity Theory, redrawing of the category boundaries is often considered a necessary step in order to battle prejudice, because in-group favouritism when the category boundaries change is diffused to the previously distinct identities. The present paper offers a review of the relevant research, and following a discourse analytic perspective argues that recategorisation can also be viewed as a rhetorical resource that people use in verbal interaction in order to achieve certain rhetorical ends. This point is exemplified using interview data from Greece with Greek participants who mobilise common in-groups between themselves and the immigrants in Greece. Different common in-groups were mobilised on the basis of common human nature, common ethnic descent and through the use of the common experience of migration that many Greek people have because Greece has been an emigrant sending country for the biggest part of the 20th century. Occasionally, these category constructions were used to differentiate between immigrants of different ethnic descent claiming that only certain immigrant groups can integrate to Greek society, whereas on other instances, these common in-groups were used in order to inoculate speakers of accusations of prejudice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses domestic helper narratives focusing on identity construction in diaspora. It reports on an ongoing research project in a church shelter in Hong Kong where foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) seek help when they have been abused. Many of the stories told by FDHs are trauma narratives about physical assault, starvation, underpayment, and exploitation, and the article explores how narratives may be used as a means for identity construction, but also as a site for empowering FDHs to re-author their stories and become agents in their own lives. The analyses show how linguistic resources are used to index different identities. They also show that FDHs have to accept forced identities and fight for their right to re-author their own life stories. Finally, the article provides examples of private and public discourses about FDHs in Hong Kong and suggests that ideologies of moral exclusion, or the local codes of argument, serve to legitimise their dehumanisation. 本文分析散居香港的外籍家庭傭工有關身份建構的敘事話語。本文資料取自一個尚在進行中的研究項目。該項目的受訪者為棲身教會收容所尋求幫助的受虐外傭。項目所收集的訪問內容許多為創傷敘事，涉及身體傷害、飢餓、薪酬不足和剝削。除了探討創傷敘事如何用作身份建構的手段，本文還將探討這些敘事如何賦與受虐外傭話語權，讓她們重敘故事，主宰自己的生活。本文的分析將展現 語言資源如何成為標示不同身份的工具，並將說明：外傭被迫接受強加的身份，並為獲得重敘自己故事的權利而鬥爭。文章提供了關涉香港外傭的個人和公眾話語實例，並認為，道德排外的意識形態或本地輿論準則，對外傭所受非人道待遇的合理化發生了作用。[Chinese] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper considers how our understanding of religious identifications may be enriched through social psychological theorizing on group identity. It reviews a range of work (for example, sociological and social psychological) concerning Islam and Muslim identities and develops the case for viewing religious identities as constructed in and through argument. It then seeks to draw out the implications of such an approach for understanding group relations. Although minority religious identifications are often assumed to undermine social cohesion, the social networks within and between groups can contribute to inter-group harmony. For example, reciprocal relationships characterized by trust and reciprocity can constitute forms of social capital that facilitate civic integration. Yet, how such social networks are used and how relationships are developed depends on group members' understandings of their collective identity. As this is contested, it follows that analyses of intergroup relations must attend to group members' identity-related arguments and the strategic concerns that lie behind them. The utility of this perspective is illustrated briefly with empirical material (arising from interviews conducted with Muslim activists) which hints at the importance of investigating social actors' own theories of social capital and how it can be developed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of eco-fashion consumption and consumer purchase decisions while constructing one's self with external symbols, such as appearance, clothing and fashion items. This study approaches sustainable clothing from a grounding in design research and the meanings of material culture. The study uses sociology and social psychology; hence, the meaning of appearance and especially clothing and fashion is understood in a social context. This paper also takes an interdisciplinary approach to eco-clothes as cultural and design objects in a social and sustainable development context, objects that intertwine consumers' ethical attitudes and values and how they construct a concept of ‘self’ using external symbols. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the identities that may be constructed by upper primary aged pupils during silent reading sessions. The findings presented are taken from a 2-year ethnographic case study, which investigated how four dyslexic pupils, aged 10–11 (Y5–6), coped with the classroom reading they encountered at a large primary school in northern England. The theoretical aim was to integrate the psychological concept of dyslexia with a socio-cultural view of literacy development and an analytic framework was developed using symbolic interactionist theory. Here ideas on presentation of self, formulated by Erving Goffman, are introduced and his notion of impression management is used as a lens through which to discuss what happened when the pupils were put in the position of having no choice but to engage with texts that were too difficult for them to read independently. I focus on the silent reading sessions that were a regular feature of their Literacy lessons and introduce a typology of reader identities. Evidence from systematic observations, supplemented with that from narrative observations and interview transcripts, is used to illustrate the four types - interested reader, uninterested reader, interested dissembler and uninterested dissembler– and the implications for literacy development are drawn out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the repatriation and ceremonial reburial of Indigenous remains to La Perouse, an Indigenous community in Sydney, as a lens through which to examine the cultural politics of representation and recognition that are central to contemporary Aboriginal identity construction. The return of the skeletal remains of 21 individuals highlights the role that representative bodies - past and present, individual and organizational - play in engagements between the State and Aboriginal people. Heralded by some as a sincere sign of reconciliation and treated as suspect and misguided by others, the reburial produced diverse responses from both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike. Speakers at the repatriation focused on righting the wrongs of the past, reconciliation, and moving forward in coop- eration, suggesting the redemptive significance of these events. Among Kooris at La Perouse, debates about community, representation, and belonging expose the ways that Aboriginal people and communities operate through, against, and beyond 'whitefella' structures of recognition to define who they are and what their culture is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As social networking sites present opportunities to construct identities, they also present challenges. This article explores women's experiences with Facebook in the Saudi context by looking at how their self‐presentation strategies and audience management might constitute a unique use of Facebook. The study utilises a mix of qualitative methods of research and extends Goffman's dramaturgical approach to consider more complex settings wherein the self is monitored and regulated, contexts "collapse," the self is judged, and judgement by others is imagined. The findings reveal that different aspects of women's identities are constructed, gendered, and tightly managed as they address multiple audiences, with networks being formed in a way that has relatively narrowly defined boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]