From I to we: participants’ accounts of the development and impact of shared identity at large-scale displays of Irish national identity

ABSTRACT

In Ireland, ritual events and parades have been a central part of civic and public life. However, there is limited understanding of the identity processes at work at these collective events. The present research aims to examine how participants attending collective events come to recognise shared social identification and the impact that this awareness is reported to have on intragroup processes. Interview data were collected over the course of two years at the St Patrick’s Day parade and 1916 Easter Rising commemorations in Dublin and Belfast with both participants and attendees at the events. Thematic analysis revealed that to the extent that individuals saw the event as an identity event, they used attendance as their primary indication of shared identity, along with visual identity markers, shared experiences, and shared affects. Participants’ accounts of the experience of shared identity focused upon a range of cognitive, affective, and social variables which together suggested a relational transformation in the crowd. These findings suggest that shared identity is an emergent state which plays a critical role in transforming social relations within the collective.

KEYWORDS:

• Collective experience
• collective participation
• crowd events
• shared identity
• social identity
• parades
• ritual
• Ireland
• St Patrick’s Day
• Easter Rising

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by matched grants from the Irish Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-062-23-1140).

Notes on contributors

Danielle L. Blaylock

Dr. Danielle L. Blaylock is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Queens University Belfast. Her research focuses on intergroup relations, intergroup conflict and social change in divided societies and is closes associated with social identity theory and contact theory.

Clifford Stevenson

Prof Clifford Stevenson is a Professor of Social Psychology at Nottimgham Trent University. His research examines how the groups to which people belong serve to shape their perception and experience of social reality.

Aisling T. O’Donnell

Dr. Aisling T. O'Donnell is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Limerick. Her research expertise relates to social identity processes, including relationships within and between groups, how identity is constructed and understood, and how it relates to well-being.

Stephen D. Reicher

Prof Stephen D. Reicher is a Professor of Psychology at University of St Andrews. Broadly his research addresses the issues of group behaviour and the individual-social relationship.

Dominic Bryan

Prof Dominic Bryan is a Professor of Anthropology at Queens University Belfast. Broadly his research examines the nature of intergroup conflict on the symbolic landscape. It has particularly looked at the role played by symbols and rituals during the conflict and peace in Northern Ireland.

Fergus G. Neville

Dr. Fergus G. Neville is a Lecturer in Organisation Studies at University of St Andrews. Broadly his research focusses on group processes and their prosocial and anti-social consequences.

Orla T. Muldoon

Prof Orla T. Muldoon is Professor of Psychology at University of Limerick. Her research interests relate to how system and structures impact on social, psychological and political functioning.