Willingness to Engage in Religious Collective Action: The Role of Group Identification and Identity Fusion

Abstract

In Study 1, 239 Indonesian Muslims reported their religious identification, identity fusion and their willingness to engage in peaceful and violent collective action. Both religious identification and identity fusion were positively associated with peaceful collective action. In addition, when the role of identity fusion was controlled, identification was found to be negatively associated with support for violence. A second study (N = 176 Indonesian Muslims) found that religious identification was positively associated with peaceful collective action. However, even though identity fusion was again positively associated with support for violence, identification was not a significant predictor when controlling for identity fusion.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Indonesian Endowment for Educational Fund (LPDP) of the Indonesian Republic who supported the first author for doctoral research at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Author Contributions

Susilo Wibisono, Winnifred R. Louis, and Jolanda Jetten conceived the studies and were responsible for overall planning and direction. Susilo Wibisono carried out the surveys, data management and analysis. Winnifred R. Louis and Jolanda Jetten contributed to the analysis process and the interpretation of the results. Susilo Wibisono took the lead in writing the article, with revisions based on feedback from Winnifred R. Louis and Jolanda Jetten.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Stephen C. Wright, Donald M. Taylor, and Fathali M. Moghaddam, “Responding to Membership in a Disadvantaged Group—From Acceptance to Collective Protest,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58, no. 6 (1990): 994–1003.

2 Martijn van Zomeren and Aarti Iyer, “Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics of Collective Action,” Journal of Social Issues 65, no. 4 (2009): 645–60.

3 The term is defined as member identification with an interacting group. See: Henry Tajfel and John C. Turner, “An Integrative Theory of Inter-Group Conflict,” in The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, ed. William G. Austin and Stephen Worchel (Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole, 1979), 56–65.

4 The term is defined as a visceral sense of “oneness” with a group and its members. See: William B. Swann and Michael D. Buhrmester, “Identity Fusion,” Current Directions in Psychological Sciences 24, no. 1 (2015): 52.

5 Some studies that explored the link between group identification and peaceful collective action are: Aya Adra, Charles Harb, Mengyao Li, and Anna Baumert, “Predicting Collective Action Tendencies among Filipina Domestic Workers in Lebanon: Integrating the Social Identity Model of Collective Action and the Role of Fear,” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 23, Issue 7 (2020): 967–78; Helena Radke, Matthew J. Hornsey, and Fiona K. Barlow, “Barriers to Women Engaging in Collective Action to Overcome Sexism,” American Psychologist 71, no. 9 (2016): 863–74; Martijn van Zomeren, Tom Postmes, and Russell Spears, “Toward an Integrative Social Identity Model of Collective Action: A Quantitative Research Synthesis of Three Socio-Psychological Perspectives,” Psychological Bulletin 134, no. 4 (2008): 504–35.

6 Empirical evidence on the association between identity fusion and extreme or violent pro-group action can be found in the following studies: Leah A. Fredman, Brock Bastian, and William B. Swann, “God or Country? Fusion with Judaism Predicts Desire for Retaliation Following Palestinian Stabbing Intifada,” Social Psychological and Personality Science 8 (2017): 882–87; Angel Gomez, Matthew L. Brooks, Michael D. Buhrmester, Alexandra Vazquez, Jolanda Jetten, and William B. Swann, “On the Nature of Identity Fusion: Insights into the Construct and a New Measure,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100, no. 5 (2011): 918–33; William B. Swann, Michael D. Buhrmester, Angel Gomez, Jolanda Jetten, Brock Bastian, Alexandra Vazquez, Amarina Ariyanto, Tomasz Besta, Oliver Christ, Lijuan Cui, et al., “What Makes a Group Worth Dying For? Identity Fusion Fosters Perception of Familial Ties, Promoting Self-Sacrifice,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106, no. 6 (2014): 912–26.

7 Some studies portraying collective action motivated by religious identity in Indonesia are: Agnieszka Kanas and Borja Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia: The Role of Religious and National Identifications,” Political Psychology 38, no. 2 (2017): 209–25; Tery Setiawan, Peer Scheepers, and Carl Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action in Predicting Support for Interreligious Violence in Indonesia,” Asian Journal of Social Psychology 23 (2020): 278–92.

8 For a review, see: Adrian Coyle and Evanthia Lyons, “The Social Psychology of Religion: Current Research Themes,” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 21, no. 6 (2011): 461–67.

9 Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action”.

10 Bernd Simon and Daniela Ruhs, “Identity and Politicization among Turkish Migrants in Germany: The Role of Dual Identification,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95, no. 6 (2008): 1354–66.

11 Nassim Tabri and Michael Conway, “Negative Expectancies for the Group’s Outcomes Undermine Normative Collective Action: Conflict between Christian and Muslim Groups in Lebanon,” British Journal of Social Psychology 50, no. 4 (2011): 649–69.

12 Bertjan Doosje, Russell Spears, and Naomi Ellemers, “Social Identity as Both Cause and Effect: The Development of Group Identification in Response to Anticipated and Actual Changes in the Intergroup Status Hierarchy,” British Journal of Social Psychology 41 (2002): 57–76.

13 Nicole Tausch, Julia C. Becker, Russell Spears, Oliver Christ, Rim Saab, Purnima Singh, and Roomana N. Siddiqui, “Explaining Radical Group Behavior: Developing Emotion and Efficacy Routes to Normative and Nonnormative Collective Action,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101, no. 1 (2011): 129–48.

14 Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action.”

15 Gloria Jimenez-Moya, Russell Spears, Rosa Rodriguez-Bailon, and Soledad de Lemus, “By Any Means Necessary? When and Why Low Group Identification Paradoxically Predicts Radical Collective Action,” Journal of Social Issues 71, no. 3 (2015): 517–35.

16 Martha Newson, Michael D. Buhrmester, and Harvey Whitehouse, “Explaining Lifelong Loyalty: The Role of Identity Fusion and Self-Shaping Group Events,” Plos One 11, no. 8 (2016): e0160427.

17 Tomasz Besta and Radoslaw Kossakowski, “Football Supporters: Group Identity, Perception of In-Group and Out-Group Members and Pro-Group Action Tendencies,” Revista de Psicologia del Deporte 27, no. 2 (2018): 15–22.

18 The data were taken from the annual report published by the Indonesian Statistical Bureau in BPS Statistics Indonesia: Badan Pusat Statistik, Statistical Year Book of Indonesia 2020: Delivering Data to Inform Development Planning (Jakarta: BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Sub-Directorate of Statistical Compilation and Publication, 2020).

19 Edward Aspinall, Diego Fossati, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, and Eve Warburton, “Mapping the Indonesian Political Spectrum,” New Mandala, 24 April 2018, https://www.newmandala.org/mapping-indonesian-political-spectrum/ (accessed April 24, 2020).

20 Greg Fealy, “Bigger Than Ahok: Explaining the 2 December Mass Rally,” Indonesia at Melbourne, 7 December 2016, https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/bigger-than-ahok-explaining-jakartas-2-december-mass-rally/ (accessed April 22, 2020).

21 According to the Gallup surveys in 114 countries. See: Steve Crabtree, “Religiosity Highest in World’s Poorest Nations” (Gallup, 2010), https://news.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx (accessed April 13, 2020).

22 For a review, see: Kenneth I. Mavor and Renate Ysseldyk, “A Social Identity Approach to Religion: Religiosity at the Nexus of Personal and Collective Self,” in The Science of Religion, Spirituality and Existentialism, ed. Kenneth E. Vail, III and Clay Routledge (London: Elsevier Inc., 2020), 187–205.

23 Kanas and Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia.”

24 Franz Paul, Edgar Eldfelder, Albert-Georg Lang and Axel Buchner, “G*Power 3: A Flexible Statistical Power Analysis for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences,” Behavioral Research Methods 39, no. 2 (2007): 175–91.

25 James E. Cameron, “A Three-Factor Model of Social Identity,” Self and Identity 3, no. 3 (2004): 239–62.

26 Gomez, Brooks, Buhrmester, Vazquez, Jetten, and Swann, “On the Nature of Identity Fusion.”

27 Martijn van Zomeren, Tom Postmes, and Russell Spears, “On Conviction’s Collective Consequences: Integrating Moral Conviction with the Social Identity Model of Collective Action,” British Journal of Social Psychology 51, no. 1 (2012): 52–71.

28 Kanas and Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia.”

29 Ibid.; Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action”; Adra, Harb, Li, and Baumert, “Predicting Collective Action Tendencies”; van Zomeren, Postmes, and Spears, “Toward an Integrative Social Identity Model of Collective Action.”

30 Newson, Buhrmester, and Whitehouse, “Explaining Lifelong Loyalty.”

31 Jimenez-Moya, Spears, Rodriguez-Bailon, and de Lemus, “By Any Means Necessary?”

32 This measure was adopted from the scales used by Agnieszka Kanas and Borja Martinovic for their studies in Indonesia. More specifically, the studies were conducted in two provinces: Yogyakarta and Molucca Islands. See: Kanas and Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia.”

33 Susilo Wibisono, “Exploring the Influence of Group Identification and Identity Fusion on Participation in Conventional and Radical Collective Action in the Case of Religious Identity,” OSF Registries, https://osf.io/px7r2.

34 Gomez, Brooks, Buhrmester, Vazquez, Jetten, and Swann, “On the Nature of Identity Fusion.”

35 Ibid.

36 Kanas and Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia.”

37 Ibid.

38 Fredman, Bastian, and Swann, “God or Country?”; Gomez, Brooks, Buhrmester, Vazquez, Jetten, and Swann, “On the Nature of Identity Fusion”; Swann et al., “What Makes a Group Worth Dying For?.”

39 Wright, Taylor, and Moghaddam, “Responding to Membership in a Disadvantaged Group”; van Zomeren and Iyer, “Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics of Collective Action”; Tajfel and Turner, “An Integrative Theory of Inter-Group Conflict.”

40 Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action”; Kanas and Martinovic, “Political Action in Conflict and Nonconflict Regions in Indonesia.”

41 Newson, Buhrmester, and Whitehouse, “Explaining Lifelong Loyalty.”

42 Besta and Kossakowski, “Football Supporters: Group Identity.”

43 Jimenez-Moya, Spears, Rodriguez-Bailon, and de Lemus, “By Any Means Necessary?”; Tausch, Becker, Spears, Christ, Saab, Singh, and Siddiqui, “Explaining Radical Group Behavior.”

44 Winnifred R. Louis, “Peace and Conflict as Group Norms,” Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 20, no. 2 (2014): 180–6.

45 Tausch et al., “Explaining Radical Group Behavior.”

46 The studies include: Fredman, Bastian, and Swann, “God or Country?; Gomez et al., “On the Nature of Identity Fusion”; William B. Swann, “What Makes a Group Worth Dying For?”; Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action.”

47 Michelle C. Johnson, “‘The Proof Is on My Palm’: Debating Ethnicity, Islam and Ritual in a New African Diaspora,” Journal of Religion in Africa 36, no. 1 (2006): 50–77.

48 Fealy, “Bigger Than Ahok.”

49 Van Zomeren and Iyer, “Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics”; van Zomeren, Postmes, and Spears, “On Conviction’s Collective Consequences.”

50 Besta and Kossakowski, “Football Supporters: Group Identity.”

51 Tausch et al., “Explaining Radical Group Behavior.”

52 Setiawan, Scheepers, and Sterkens, “Applicability of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action.”