Glynis Breakwell – författare

In the 1990s, moves towards federalism within the European Union, and the political transition since the collapse of Communism had given rise to a number of developments, such as the resurgence of nationalism and the creation of new nations and alliances which European populations were asked to identify with. These changes posed a number of challenges for social psychology, and provided a highly topical and relevant context for exploring the validity, and extending the limits, of current theories.

In this book, originally published in 1996, reissued here with a new preface, a group of predominantly European academics explore these issues and challenges – primarily through different versions of social identity theory, but also through alternative models such as alienation theory and representational identity theory. This range of approaches made Changing European Identities an extremely useful text for undergraduate and research students, academics and professionals in social psychology at the time. It also provided a valuable and new perspective on people’s reactions to change in Europe for a wide range of social and political scientists and analysts. Today it can be read in its historical perspective.

In the 1990s, moves towards federalism within the European Union, and the political transition since the collapse of Communism had given rise to a number of developments, such as the resurgence of nationalism and the creation of new nations and alliances which European populations were asked to identify with. These changes posed a number of challenges for social psychology, and provided a highly topical and relevant context for exploring the validity, and extending the limits, of current theories.

In this book, originally published in 1996, reissued here with a new preface, a group of predominantly European academics explore these issues and challenges – primarily through different versions of social identity theory, but also through alternative models such as alienation theory and representational identity theory. This range of approaches made Changing European Identities an extremely useful text for undergraduate and research students, academics and professionals in social psychology at the time. It also provided a valuable and new perspective on people’s reactions to change in Europe for a wide range of social and political scientists and analysts. Today it can be read in its historical perspective.

People cope with threats to their identities in many different ways. Until the original publication of this title in 1986, there had been no theoretical framework within which to analyse their strategies for doing this, or to examine the nature and impact of the threatening experiences themselves. In this elegant and original book, Glynis Breakwell proposes an integrative model which explores the structure of identity and the principles directing its development.

Focusing on examples of threat such as unemployment, sexually atypical employment and ethnic marginality, Breakwell examines the relation of the individual to social change. Through her sensitive use of case studies, she enables the victims of threat to speak for themselves about their experiences and feelings. Their reactions illustrate her proposed framework of three levels of coping strategies – intra-psychic, interpersonal and intergroup – and her assessment of the factors which limit the success of such strategies. The case studies also point to new evidence on the effects of unemployment and the impact of youth training schemes at the time.

This title would have been essential reading for a range of undergraduate courses in social and abnormal psychology and individual differences, as well as for postgraduate training in clinical and medical psychology at the time. Social workers, counsellors and all those concerned with the care of the sufferers of threatened identities will still find it both informative and influential.