The context of leadership has changed. Traditionally, leaders worked in organizations in which people largely shared a common culture and set of values. Today, leaders must bring together groups of people with very different histories, perspectives, values, and cultures. The people you lead are likely to be different from you and from each other in significant ways. Leaders today need an awareness of social identity, their own and that of others.
Most scholars now refute the monolithic, static definition of identity and adopt a fluid approach to the concept which takes into consideration overlapping, or rather intersecting different facets of identity. The contact of many and varied aspects of identity finds its full development in interpersonal communication when two or more individuals identify through their discourse. In this volume, the authors are interested in identity in intercultural contexts. With contributions from Finland, Japan, Malaysia, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States of America from the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology, literature and education, the key concepts associated with identity and interculturality are revisited, and empirical research provides an insight into identification processes. This volume will appeal to scholars interested in the questions of identity and intercultural relations, as well as to students, particularly from the fields of anthropology, education, language and communication studies. It will also interest individuals from all walks of life who are keen on knowing more about personal diversities.
The island of Ngazidja lies at the southern end of the monsoon wind system and its inhabitants, the Wangazidja, have participated in the trading networks of the Indian Ocean for two millennia. The enduring contacts between the Wangazidja and their trading partners have subjected them to a variety of social and cultural influences—from the Swahili coast, from the African hinterland, from the Arabian peninsula, from Indonesia and, more recently, from Europe. This book looks at the strategies called into play by Wangazidja in negotiating this encounter with the outside world; it discusses how they incorporate this variety of influences into their own social and cultural modes of practice while all the time remaining (in the words of one observer) “authentic.” Drawing on the work of thinkers such as Theodor Adorno, René Girard and Michael Taussig, the author develops the theoretical concept of mimesis in an analysis of these transformations, increasingly relevant in the contemporary context of globalization, showing how firmly anchored social structures are able to incorporate what seem to be practices imitative of the Other.
Social identity research has transformed psychology and the social sciences. Developed around intergroup relations, perspectives on social identity have now been applied fruitfully to a diverse array of topics and domains, including health, organizations and management, culture, politics and group dynamics. In many of these new areas, the focus has been on groups, but also very much on the autonomous individual. This has been an exciting development, and has prompted a rethinking of the relationship between personal identity and social identity - the issue of individuality in the group. This book brings together an international selection of prominent researchers at the forefront of this development. They reflect on this issue of individuality in the group, and on how thinking about social identity has changed. Together, these chapters chart a key development in the field: how social identity perspectives inform understanding of cohesion, unity and collective action, but also how they help us understand individuality, agency, autonomy, disagreement, and diversity within groups. This text is valuable to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying social psychology where intergroup relations and group processes are a central component. Given its wider reach, however, it will also be of interest to those in cognate disciplines where social identity perspectives have application potential.
Praise for The Center for Creative LeadershipHandbook of Leadership Development "The most authoritative, comprehensive, and practical source for developing leadership capability in any organization. The handbook integrates the very best of theory and practice, and serves as a valuable road map to creating a foundation of systemic leadership excellence, now and for the future." —Thomas J. Griffin, vice president, organizational learning and chief teaching officer, U.S. Cellular "Only from the Center for Creative Leadership could we expect to see such a rich, authoritative, and actionable set of the latest resources for developing leaders. All those who have responsibility for developing leaders (senior executives, leader development professionals, and leaders themselves), as well as those who study leadership, need to read this book." —Douglas T. "Tim" Hall, founding director, Executive Development Roundtable, Boston University "The changes in the third edition of The Handbook of Leadership Development make a good book even better. The authors provide a broad perspective on the most relevant topics for academics and practitioners. The emphasis on development of collective leadership capacity as well as development of individual leaders is consistent with the growing recognition that strategic leadership, shared leadership, and flexible change leadership are essential for sustained organizational effectiveness in a dynamic global economy. The book is a valuable source of knowledge and practical advice for anyone who is responsible for providing or managing leadership development." —Gary Yukl, professor of management, University at Albany-SUNY "We consider leadership to be the single most important factor influencing the performance of our organization. This book is brilliant in defining what we need to do and what capabilities we need to assist our leaders to grow and develop." —Morten Raabe, vice president of Organisation Development, WW ASA, Oslo, Norway Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
Due to its theoretical and educational significance within the language learning process, the study of L2 motivation has been an important area of second language acquisition research for several decades. Over the last few years L2 motivation research has taken an exciting new turn by focusing increasingly on the language learner’s situated identity and various self-perceptions. As a result, the concept of L2 motivation is currently in the process of being radically reconceptualised and re-theorised in the context of contemporary notions of self and identity. With contributions by leading European, North American and Asian scholars, this volume brings together the first comprehensive anthology of key conceptual and empirical papers that mark this important paradigmatic shift.
Psychology recognises no borders. The relationships between people and the groups they form are determined by similar principles no matter where in the world they come from. This book has been written to introduce students from all countries and backgrounds to the exciting field of social psychology. Recognising the limitations that come from studying the subject through the lens of any one culture, James Alcock and Stan Sadava have crafted a truly international social psychology book for the modern era. Based on classic and cutting-edge scholarship from across the world, An Introduction to Social Psychology encourages mastery of the basics as well as critical thinking. Incorporating relevant insights from social neuroscience, evolutionary theory and positive psychology, it offers: Chapters on crowd behaviour and applied social psychology Discussion of new means of social interaction, including social media Relevant insights from social neuroscience, evolutionary theory and positive psychology A companion website features extensive additional resources for students and instructors
Social identity research is very much on the ascendancy, particularly in the field of organizational psychology. Reflecting this fact, this volume contains chapters from researchers at the cutting edge of these developments.
The Performativity of Value: On the Citability of Cultural Commodities addresses the increased commodification of language in the U.S. cultural economy. The marketing of cultural commodities in formats such as websites, videos, movies, books, online games, or television episodes—as distributed across a wide range of technological devices—means that language is moving across situational contexts to an unprecedented degree. Just as authors quote or paraphrase sources in the construction of a text, subjects “cite” the commodified words, images, and works of others as they construct their social identities. Steve Sherlock discusses how consumer citational practices generate demand for those cultural commodities which align the self with particular subcultural groups. By “re-citing” the exchange value frame within which language itself has acquired an economic worth, consumer citational practices have become performative of the U.S. cultural economy. In order to describe this process, the book extends the work of Judith Butler on the performativity of gender to the performativity of exchange value, as well as to the performativity of subcultural values. The book also develops a critique of the increasing commodification of language in the contemporary economy. Sherlock follows Butler in developing a model of performativity based on Jacques Derrida’s work, particularly regarding the citability of language into new situational contexts. Derrida’s critique of the metaphysics of presence in Western philosophy and culture is extended toward a critique of the assumed presence of exchange value in the cultural marketplace. The book also incorporates the work of the Bakhtin Circle into this framework—especially their insight into how everyday utterances, which “report on” the words of others, become a site for the re-negotiation of values between self and others. The re-citational process used in contemporary identity construction can thus either re-cite the current cultural economy, or resist it. The Performativity of Value contributes to themes examined in social theory, social psychology, literary theory, continental philosophy, and cultural studies, and thus will be of interest to students and scholars working in those areas.
