Defining Identity Frames
In a nutshell, identity frames "crop" information and perspectives that do not align with or perhaps contradict features of an individual's core identity.
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Drawing from the larger body of general research on conflict framing, the concept of identity frames illustrates the various ways in which people view themselves in the context of specific conflicts. It also allows us to think about how individuals who are part of a larger group are influenced by their affiliation with and participation in that group.
Why Frames Matter
A frame is an interpretive device that all people use when making sense of the world around them. Because the task of processing information about our social world is difficult, complex, and often cumbersome, especially when addressing social conflicts, we must use devices that help us make better sense of any given situation. All individuals use frames to aid in deciding where and how we fit into a conflict and what, if anything we can do as a response. Using the metaphor of a picture frame, the concept of "frame" acts as a device to draw borders around what is and is not important. Just as a picture frame defines what is and what is not included in a picture, conflict frames define what is and is not important to consider when faced with a conflict.
The Importance of Identity Frames
The concept of identity frame is an important one because it allows us to analyze how individuals' identity and group affiliation influence how they view and respond to conflict. Because identity describes who we are as a person, we tend to protect those things (beliefs, values, group affiliations) that help create our sense of self. When individuals' identities are threatened or challenged through conflict, they respond in ways that reinforce their allegiance to these affiliations. In a nutshell, identity frames "crop" information and perspectives that do not align with or perhaps contradict features of an individual's core identity.
Where Frames Come From
Additional insights into identity frames are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.
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Identity frames are created in a number of ways and are influenced by multiple factors. Individuals' understanding of their core beliefs, values, and sense of self influences how they will respond in a conflict. Often people see themselves as an advocate of a particular set of values (environmentalism, conservation, freedom, equality) and frame the conflict based on how the alternatives advance one or more of a particular set of interests.
Group Identification: The different groups of which individuals are a part also influence their orientation toward the conflict and toward other parties involved. For example, when deciding whether to support new legislation calling for prayer in public schools, one's identity as a fundamentalist Christian would result in a more favorable frame toward the policy. One would likely frame the conflict through the values of one's church community, rather than through the values of personal choice or preference. This framing, in turn, influences how the individual will consider the merits of opposing arguments and positions on the conflict. When people view themselves as a part of a larger group, position, institution, or set of values, they will behave in ways that protect these markers of identity.
Social/Institutional Roles: One's role in society, as student, parent, friend, activist, victim, guardian, relative, boss, or employee, can dramatically influence one's identity frames. In turn, each of these societal roles can influence the options we see available. For example, when considering options for moving the boundaries of school attendance areas, thus changing which school particular children will go to, the way we frame the ensuing dispute depends on our particular social and institutional role. As a parent, people may view the dispute in terms of how the outcome would affect their children or perhaps their ability to parent. (Parents generally do not want their children to be forced to move, unless they are being moved into a better school.) School administrators may be more interested in how the outcome would affect teachers or the overall budget of the school system. As an employee, people may be more interested in how this relocation would affect their employment status. Based on our different roles, we will see and respond to (frame) the dispute differently based on the needs and interests of our particular role. Role conflict may occur when two of our roles clash (perhaps our roles as parent and administrator).
Our institutional affiliation (logger, rancher, federal employee, state house representative, mayor, president of a chemical company, director of an environmental organization) may also facilitate or inhibit particular ways of looking at a conflict. For example, as a politician, we may evaluate first and foremost how the outcome of a particular dispute (or even the processes we used to address the conflict) may influence our ability to be re-elected. In this case, the politician would make choices based on a frame that considers only those behaviors that make good politics. A sound solution may not be considered because the "politician frame" did not allow that option to come into view.
Ethnic/Racial/Cultural Identity
Individuals' identity frames are also strongly influenced by their affiliation with a particular ethnic group (Polish, Irish, African, Peruvian), racial background (Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American), place (the South, the Midwest, Flowing Gardens subdivision, Los Angeles, Texas, South America) or participation in a particular cultural or sub-cultural group (hippie, retired, female, lesbian, lawyer, elderly, disabled). Members of a particular cultural identity group are likely to operate from a frame that evaluates how a particular conflict will affect members of the larger group.
In one case featuring a dispute over neighborhood redevelopment, different cultural groups may frame the same problem in drastically different ways. For example, a proposed development requires tearing down an old blues club to build a new set of apartments that includes a medical facility for the elderly. Certain African-American groups and the local musicians' guild are upset that their only form of entertainment in the community will be lost. However, the elderly population sees the conflict through a frame that considers the significant expansion of health services in the neighborhood. Still other, older members of the Polish community are concerned that the new buildings conform to the "old world" architectural style of the surrounding buildings. Based on the interests and needs of the larger cultural identity group, rather than on solely individual beliefs, their members are likely to use a frame that prioritizes examining the effects of the conflict on their specific group (see Cultural Frames).
Use the following to cite this article:
Gardner, Robert. "Identity Frames." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: June 2003 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/identity_frames/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Conflict Research Consortium Staff. "Ethnic Conflict and International Relations--Book Summary." University of Colorado: Conflict Research Consortium.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/booksummary/10509/.
This a summary of Ethnic Conflict and International Relations by Stephen Ryan. The book explores the causes and processes of ethnic conflict, and describes the mechanisms for resolution of ethnic conflicts. Particular attention is given to the role of international politics in either promoting or resolving ethnic conflicts.
Glaser, Tanya. Process and Outcome Goal Orientations in Conflict Situations: The Importance of Framing.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/articlesummary/10469/.
This summary covers Part Three of The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, edited by Morton Deutsch and Peter T. Coleman. Part Three focuses on Personal Differences as an integral aspect of conflict resolution processes. This part includes only one chapter.
Glaser, Tanya. "Resolving Identity-Based Conflict: In Nations, Organizations, and Communities--Summary." University of Colorado: Conflict Research Consortium, 1998.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/booksummary/10500/.
This page offers a summary of the book, Resolving Identity-Based Conflict: In Nations, Organizations, and Communities, by Jay Rothman. Rothman argues that identity-based conflicts also have the potential to be transformative and creative. Drawing on his own experiences in conflict resolution and on existing theoretical models, Rothman develops his ARIA framework for transforming identity conflicts into productive relations.
Conflict Research Consortium Staff. "Resolving Social Conflicts--Summary." University of Colorado: Conflict Research Consortium.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/booksummary/10364/.
This is a summary of Resolving Social Conflicts, a collection of early essays by Kurt Lewin exploring the relationship between individuals, groups, and the process of conflict, from a social psychological perspective.
Glaser, Tanya. "Seven Strategies for Treating Perception or Framing Problems--Summary." University of Colorado: Conflict Research Consortium, 1900.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/articlesummary/10203/.
This is a summary of one aspect of principled negotiation as outlined by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton in the 1991 edition of Getting to Yes. This summary focuses on what they call a "people problem" or the fact that people see or define a situation differently. In 1991 edition of Getting to Yes, the authors offer seven ways for dealing with "problems of perception" or "framing problems".
Offline (Print) Sources
Hogg, Michael A., Deborah J. Terryn and Katherine M. White. "A Tale of Two Theories: A Critical Comparison of Identity Theory with Social Identity Theory." Social Psychology Quarterly 58:4, 1995.
Identity theory and social identity theory are two remarkably similar perspectives on the dynamic mediation of the socially constructed self between individual behavior and social structure. Yet there is almost no systematic communication between these two perspectives; they occupy parallel but separate universes. This article describes both theories, summarizes their similarities, critically discusses their differences, and outlines some research directions.
Tajfel, H. and John C. Turner. "An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict." Social Pscychology of Intergroup Relations, The , 1986.
Snare, Charles E. "Defining Others and Situations: Peace, Conflict, and Cooperation." Peace and Conflict Studies 1:1, December 1994.
This article examines framing. The author explains, "individuals actively create reality and give it meaning. One's subjective representations of reality provide a framework to interpret and categorize situations and people. One's mental representations become a guide in one's attempt to grapple with the problems and challenges that confront us."
Ryan, Stephen. Ethnic Conflict and International Relations. Brookfield, NH: Dartmouth Publishing Company, March 1995.
Ethnic Conflict and International Relations explores the causes and processes of ethnic conflict, and describes the mechanisms for resolution of ethnic conflicts. Particular attention is given to the role of international politics in either promoting or resolving ethnic conflicts.
Click here for more info.
Stryker, S. "Identity Salience and Role Performance: The Relevance of Symbolic Interaction Theory for Family Research." Journal of Marriage and the Family 30 , 1968.
Stein, Janice Gross. "Image, Identity and Conflict Resolution." In Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict. Edited by Crocker, Chester A., Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, eds. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996.
Stein discusses the need for group identity and the tendency to distinguish between "insiders" and "outsiders". Stereotyped enemy images form in this context and tend to perpetuate and intensify conflict. Has extensive discussion of Egypt's Anwar Sadat and the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev to illustrate the role of psychological factors. Similar chapter appears in Turbulent Peace. Click here for more info.
Hoare, C. H. "Psychosocial Identity Development in United States Society: Its Role in Fostering Exclusion of Cultural Others." In Race, Identity and Self: Identity in Multicultural Perspective. Edited by Salett, E.P., ed. Washington, D.C.: NMCI Publications of the National MultiCultural Institute, 1994.
Lewin, Gertrud Weiss, ed. Resolving Social Conflicts. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1948.
Resolving Social Conflicts is a collection of early essays exploring the relationship between individuals, groups, and the process of conflict, from a social psychological perspective. Click here for more info.
Tajfel, H. Social Identity and Intergroup Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Hogg, Michael A. and D. J. Terry. "Social Identity and Self-categorization Processes in Organizational Contexts." Academy of Management Review 25, 2000.
Northrup, Terrell A. "The Dynamic of Identity in Personal and Social Conflict." Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation , October 1989.
In this essay Northrup argues that identity is always an important factor in conflictual relationships, as threats to identity can cause conflict or contribute to its intractability. The essay gives a definition and a thorough analysis of the concept of identity. Click here for more info.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Sieder, Rachel. "Reframing Citizenship: Indigenous Rights, Local Power and the Peace Process in Guatemala." ACCORD, Vol. 2 , January 1, 1997
Available at: Click here for more info.
Scroll down to this article. It discusses the evoking of identity politics by indigenous Guatemalans in establishing political power in the peace process and democratization of the Guatemalan state. Indigenous rights to their cultural heritage, local autonomy, and traditional lands are specific foci of the activist movement. The article concentrates on activism by indigenous Mayan leaders, intellectuals, and organizations aimed at gaining representation in peace negotiations in Guatemala, as well as, in the post-war government.
Offline (Print) Sources
Making Sense of Intractable Environmental Conflicts: Frames and Cases. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2003.
This edited volume consists of a series of case studies that examine processes used to help resolve environmental conflicts. The work opens with an introductory chapter on how environmental conflicts are framed as well as a discussion of the meaning of the term intractability. The case studies cover natural resource cases, water cases, toxics cases, and growth management cases. The concept and importance of framing are emphasized throughout all of the pieces in the work.
Kelman, Herbert C. "The Role of Social Identity in Conflict Resolution: Experiences from Israeli-Palestinian Problem-Solving Workshops." Paper presented at the International Association of Conflict Management, San Sebastian, Spain, 1999.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
California's Central Valley, Part One: The Central Valley's Idenity Crisis. NPR. November 2002.
Available at: Click here for more info.
This audio clip examines how Californians are dealing with issues of identity.
Offline (Print) Sources
Caught in the Crossfire. Directed and/or Produced by: Van Taylor, David and Brad Lichtenstein. First Run Icarus Films. 2002.
This film examines issues of identity and stereotyping as it follows three Arab-Americans around in post-9/11, New York. Click here for more info.
Euskadi: A Stateless Nation. Directed and/or Produced by: MacCaig, Arthur. First Run Icarus Films. 1984.
This film looks at the role nationalism and identity play in the Basque-Spanish conflict. Click here for more info.
My Beloved Country. Directed and/or Produced by: Vredeveld, Saskia. First Run Icarus Films. 1991.
This film takes a look from within at Afrikaner extremists after the fall of apartheid.. Click here for more info.
The Last Colonials. Directed and/or Produced by: Michel, Thierry. First Run Icarus Films. 1995.
This film focuses on a number of former white colonials who remained in Zaire after its independence. It illustrates how these individuals' cultural heritage continues to influence their perception of who they think they are, the just and rightful owners of the country. Click here for more info.
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