<p>Följande studie har utgått ifrån ett sociologiskt socialpsykologiskt perspektiv. Uppsatsen har haft för avsikt att studera bruksandans betydelse i en industriorganisation och i relation till det omgivande samhället utifrån det teoretiska perspektivet symbolisk interaktionism och där hermeneutik och den hermeneutiska forskningsprocessen används som metod för tolkning av insamlade data. Dess syfte har varit att undersöka och synliggöra bruksandans betydelse för kommunikation, för sociala identiteter och för kulturen i organisationen. Den har avsett att svara på frågor om på vilket sätt individerna i organisationen kommunicerar; hur de sociala identiteterna skapas och reproduceras; och på vilket sätt bruksandan främjar eller hindrar en utveckling av den gemensamma organisationskulturen i anpassningen till en global marknad.</p><p>Jag har kommit att se bruksandan som ett fenomen och ett uttryck för en institution som präglas av de normer och värderingar som etablerats över generationer och som på olika sätt ännu lever kvar i de brukssamhällen som finns runt om i Sverige. Bruket har i många samhällen fungerat som den huvudsakliga arbetsgivaren och har av många ansetts som en trygghet, i form av närhet, men också som möjlighet till sysselsättning och som inkomstkälla.</p><p>Bruksandan visar på skarpa gränsdragningar mellan individer och grupper inom organisationen. Det finns en djupt rotad uppdelning i sociala kategorier, arbetare och tjänstemän, vilken innefattar vad man arbetar med, med vem man samarbetar och hur man kommunicerar. Arbetsgruppen blir här en viktig del för den enskilde individen i formandet av den sociala identiteten och för gemenskapen.</p><p>Förändringar möts ofta med misstänksamhet. Starka krafter bevarar och reproducerar det kollektiva tänkande som organisationen präglas av. Här är det viktigt att notera att detta kollektiva inflytande över den enskilde individen kan verka hindrande för individens självständighet och för organisationens utveckling. Hos den enskilde individen uttrycks en uppfattning om förändring som positiv och något som välkomnas samtidigt som denna önskan om förändring har svårt att slå rot och vinna gehör då gruppen eller kollektivet intar en ofta vedertagen negativ inställning och där man skyddar etablerade samverkansformer och mönster.</p>

For decades, economic theories have been mostly based on rational choices made by selfish individuals to maximize their utility, while sociology spent a lot of efforts describing the environment of individuals and explaining how this environment shapes theirs decisions. However, the last thirty years have seen many sociological concepts appear in the economic literature. For example, behavioral economics introduces things such as envy or altruism in economic theories. Other notions such as social capital, social norms, trust or community became more and more present in economic papers. The objective of this new strand of literature is to engage into sort of socioeconomic approach and to shed some light on interpersonal relationships. This thesis belongs to this socioeconomic approach, and tries to explore new aspects of various concepts. The two first papers are theoretical. In the first one, we explore the negative side of social capital, which has not been studied extensively, by investigating the effect of a norm on consumers when moving is costly. In the second one, we introduce a sociological concept, namely social identity, in a classic economic model in order to show how social interactions modifies its results, and hence, the importance of taking such interpersonal relationships into account. The third and final paper is an empirical case study of social capital in Belgium, an exercise that has not been done before, with the objective of comparing the level of social capital between the various regions of the country. In the first paper, The Tyranny of Social Norms on Individual Behavior, we study the negative effect of the existence of a norm and moving cost inside a community. Because of deviation cost (such as social shame or peer pressure for example), consumers inside a given community may not reach their ideal consumption, that is the consumption they would have without social constraint. On the other hand, moving to another community may be too expensive (in terms of social assets needed to be part of the new community). Hence, agents may get stuck in their community, being forced to consume something they do not want to. One example of such behavior is the underinvestment in education in some neighborhood. We show that such equilibria are possible and that they may be socially suboptimal equilibria as well as Pareto inferior equilibria. We also show that state intervention can correct those “bad” equilibria by operating transfers between agents in order to lower the moving cost. In the second paper, Social Identity, Advertising and Market Competition, we use a particular approach of a sociological concept, namely Social Identity, which focuses on the fact that people want to signal who they are to others. We assume that this is done by choosing a specific consumption (think of fashion market for example). We show that under this assumption, the classical result of Bertrand Price Competition does not hold anymore, and that prices and profits are positive, meaning that social identity creates market power for firms. Moreover, if the number of goods is limited, groups will be formed, and there will be multiple equilibria, each one corresponding to a particular partition of the consumers. We then add the possibility for firms to use advertising. This allows consumers to have a coordination tool, but increases also market powers for firms. We investigate the various equilibria that arise and their impact in term of welfare. In the third paper, Social Capital in Belgium, we construct an index of social capital using the European Social Survey, and we show that this index can be decomposed in three aspects: Trust, Social Activities and Social Network. We then study whether there is a difference in social capital between Belgium’s regions or not. We show that indeed, such difference exists, even when controlling for socioeconomic variables. In a third part, we investigate whether the level of social capital is higher or lower in Belgium than in other European countries, and we analyze European regional differences in term of social capital.

Följande studie har utgått ifrån ett sociologiskt socialpsykologiskt perspektiv. Uppsatsen har haft för avsikt att studera bruksandans betydelse i en industriorganisation och i relation till det omgivande samhället utifrån det teoretiska perspektivet symbolisk interaktionism och där hermeneutik och den hermeneutiska forskningsprocessen används som metod för tolkning av insamlade data. Dess syfte har varit att undersöka och synliggöra bruksandans betydelse för kommunikation, för sociala identiteter och för kulturen i organisationen. Den har avsett att svara på frågor om på vilket sätt individerna i organisationen kommunicerar; hur de sociala identiteterna skapas och reproduceras; och på vilket sätt bruksandan främjar eller hindrar en utveckling av den gemensamma organisationskulturen i anpassningen till en global marknad. Jag har kommit att se bruksandan som ett fenomen och ett uttryck för en institution som präglas av de normer och värderingar som etablerats över generationer och som på olika sätt ännu lever kvar i de brukssamhällen som finns runt om i Sverige. Bruket har i många samhällen fungerat som den huvudsakliga arbetsgivaren och har av många ansetts som en trygghet, i form av närhet, men också som möjlighet till sysselsättning och som inkomstkälla. Bruksandan visar på skarpa gränsdragningar mellan individer och grupper inom organisationen. Det finns en djupt rotad uppdelning i sociala kategorier, arbetare och tjänstemän, vilken innefattar vad man arbetar med, med vem man samarbetar och hur man kommunicerar. Arbetsgruppen blir här en viktig del för den enskilde individen i formandet av den sociala identiteten och för gemenskapen. Förändringar möts ofta med misstänksamhet. Starka krafter bevarar och reproducerar det kollektiva tänkande som organisationen präglas av. Här är det viktigt att notera att detta kollektiva inflytande över den enskilde individen kan verka hindrande för individens självständighet och för organisationens utveckling. Hos den enskilde individen uttrycks en uppfattning om förändring som positiv och något som välkomnas samtidigt som denna önskan om förändring har svårt att slå rot och vinna gehör då gruppen eller kollektivet intar en ofta vedertagen negativ inställning och där man skyddar etablerade samverkansformer och mönster.

Undersökningen syftade till att beskriva upplevelsen av sitt eget och andras sätt att konsumera. I relation till faktorer baserade på ”social identity theory” (Tajfel &amp; Turner. 1979, refererat i Myers, 2007) men också egna individuella upplevelser om påverkan på det egna konsumtionssättet hos kvinnor i åldern 20-24 år. Strävan efter att uppnå en positiv social identitet och undvika en negativ social identitet upplevs påverka sättet att konsumera. Den sociala identiteten upplevs återspegla den egna identiteten i sociala interaktioner. Intervjuer med sju kvinnor gjordes och resultatet analyserades med kvalitativ tematisk analys. Resultatet beskriver att kvinnors eget och andras sätt att konsumera kan kategoriseras, identifieras och jämföras under påverkan av upplevelser kring stil, ekonomi och värderingar. Även humör och känslor upplevs påverka konsumtionssättet. Resultatet diskuteras kring betydelsen av intresse och vikten av att förmedla en positiv självpresentation och hur det kan påverka hur och vad man handlar.

People engage in a constant and reflexive process of categorizing others according to their race, gender, age or other salient social category. Decades of research have shown that social categorization often elicits stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Social perception is complicated by the fact that people have multiple social identities and self-categorization with these identities can shift from one situation to another, coloring perceptions and evaluations of the self and others. This dissertation provides evidence that self-categorization with a novel group can override ostensible stable and pervasive racial biases in memory and evaluation and examines the neural substrates that mediate these processes. Experiment 1 shows that self-categorization with a novel mixed-race group elicited liking for ingroup members, regardless of race. This preference for ingroup members was mediated by the orbitofrontal cortex – a region of the brain linked to subjective valuation. Participants in novel groups also had greater fusiform and amygdala activity to novel ingroup members, suggesting that these regions are sensitive to the current self-categorization rather than features associated with race. Experiment 2 shows that preferences for ingroup members are evoked rapidly and spontaneously, regardless of race, indicating that ingroup bias can override automatic racial bias. Experiment 3 provides evidence that preferences for ingroup members are driven by ingroup bias rather than outgroup derogation. Experiment 4 shows that self-categorization increases memory for ingroup members eliminating the own-race memory bias. Experiment 5 provides direct evidence that fusiform activity to ingroup members is associated with superior memory for ingroup members. This study also shows greater amygdala activity to Black than White faces who are unaffiliated with either the ingroup or outgroup, suggesting that social categorization is flexible, shifting from group membership to race within a given social context. These five experiments illustrate that social perception and evaluation are sensitive to the current self-categorization – however minimal – and characterized by ingroup bias. This research also offers a relatively simple approach for erasing several pervasive racial biases. This multi-level approach extends several theories of intergroup perception and evaluation by making explicit links between self-categorization, neural processes, and social perception and evaluation.

Citizenship acquisition is often interpreted as indicating an immigrants successful integration into their new society. The literature includes a variety of behavioural, but not psychological, indicators of integration in the prediction of citizenship acquisition. Using an intergroup relations perspective, this study examined Asian immigrants intentions to become Canadian citizens. <p>Social identity theory was used to conceptualize the formation of a Canadian identity as an indicator of psychological integration into Canada. It was hypothesized that the stronger immigrants identify with Canada, the more likely they will want to acquire Canadian citizenship. Perceived discrimination and cultural incompatibility, as acculturative barriers to the formation of a Canadian identity, were hypothesized to relate negatively to intentions to acquire Canadian citizenship. The relationship between immigrants cultural identity and citizenship acquisition intentions was also explored, as was the importance of psychological predictors in relation to behavioural predictors of citizenship acquisition intentions. <p>One hundred and fourteen immigrants to Canada from Asia completed an Internet questionnaire about their experiences in Canada, and their intentions to become Canadian citizens. The results showed a positive relationship (r = .55) between respondents strength of Canadian identification and their intentions to apply for Canadian citizenship, as well as an unexpected positive relationship (r = .15) between their perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the Canadian labour market and their citizenship acquisition intentions. Cultural identity and perceptions of cultural incompatibility were unrelated to their citizenship acquisition intentions.<p>A hierarchical multiple regression showed that the combination of English ability, length of time lived in Canada, participation in Canadian society, Canadian Identification, and Perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the labour market accounted for 36.5% of the variance in citizenship acquisition intentions. Only Canadian identification and perceptions of discrimination contributed uniquely to the variance. It was concluded that Canadian identity is importantly related to immigrants citizenship acquisition intentions, and that psychological acculturation is relevant to the study of citizenship acquisition. These novel findings are important and expand the citizenship acquisition literature as well as contribute to the further development of social identity theory.

People engage in a constant and reflexive process of categorizing others according to their race, gender, age or other salient social category. Decades of research have shown that social categorization often elicits stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Social perception is complicated by the fact that people have multiple social identities and self-categorization with these identities can shift from one situation to another, coloring perceptions and evaluations of the self and others. This dissertation provides evidence that self-categorization with a novel group can override ostensible stable and pervasive racial biases in memory and evaluation and examines the neural substrates that mediate these processes. Experiment 1 shows that self-categorization with a novel mixed-race group elicited liking for ingroup members, regardless of race. This preference for ingroup members was mediated by the orbitofrontal cortex – a region of the brain linked to subjective valuation. Participants in novel groups also had greater fusiform and amygdala activity to novel ingroup members, suggesting that these regions are sensitive to the current self-categorization rather than features associated with race. Experiment 2 shows that preferences for ingroup members are evoked rapidly and spontaneously, regardless of race, indicating that ingroup bias can override automatic racial bias. Experiment 3 provides evidence that preferences for ingroup members are driven by ingroup bias rather than outgroup derogation. Experiment 4 shows that self-categorization increases memory for ingroup members eliminating the own-race memory bias. Experiment 5 provides direct evidence that fusiform activity to ingroup members is associated with superior memory for ingroup members. This study also shows greater amygdala activity to Black than White faces who are unaffiliated with either the ingroup or outgroup, suggesting that social categorization is flexible, shifting from group membership to race within a given social context. These five experiments illustrate that social perception and evaluation are sensitive to the current self-categorization – however minimal – and characterized by ingroup bias. This research also offers a relatively simple approach for erasing several pervasive racial biases. This multi-level approach extends several theories of intergroup perception and evaluation by making explicit links between self-categorization, neural processes, and social perception and evaluation.

Scholars speculate that government apologies and compensation for historical injustices promote forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as psychologically benefit members of the victimized group. However, they have not offered theory or compelling evidence in support of these assumptions, nor do they discuss how redress affects the majority group. Across four studies, I examined how Chinese and non-Chinese Canadians psychologically responded to offers of apologies and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax. Overall, it was better to give than receive the redress. When participants thought redress had not been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it less favorably than Chinese Canadians. But, when participants thought redress had been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it more favorably than Chinese Canadians did, confirming the predictions of balance and system justification theory. An offer of apology and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax did not influence Chinese Canadian participants’ forgiveness or reconciliation feelings. The redress offer also did not lead Chinese Canadians to feel more identified with Canadians or Chinese Canadians, nor did it lead Chinese Canadians to evaluate Chinese Canadians more positively. On the other hand, the majority group, non-Chinese Canadians, evaluated their group more positively and considered the system of government less responsible for the harm when both an apology and compensation were offered, as justice motivation and social identity theories predict. The current results inform interdisciplinary discussions of the potential effects of apologies and compensation by suggesting additional psychological effects of redress. They also demonstrate that, despite concerns that the majority will backlash against their government giving apologies and compensation, majority group members increased their favor of redress measures once they were offered.

Scholars speculate that government apologies and compensation for historical injustices promote forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as psychologically benefit members of the victimized group. However, they have not offered theory or compelling evidence in support of these assumptions, nor do they discuss how redress affects the majority group. Across four studies, I examined how Chinese and non-Chinese Canadians psychologically responded to offers of apologies and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax. Overall, it was better to give than receive the redress. When participants thought redress had not been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it less favorably than Chinese Canadians. But, when participants thought redress had been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it more favorably than Chinese Canadians did, confirming the predictions of balance and system justification theory. An offer of apology and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax did not influence Chinese Canadian participants’ forgiveness or reconciliation feelings. The redress offer also did not lead Chinese Canadians to feel more identified with Canadians or Chinese Canadians, nor did it lead Chinese Canadians to evaluate Chinese Canadians more positively. On the other hand, the majority group, non-Chinese Canadians, evaluated their group more positively and considered the system of government less responsible for the harm when both an apology and compensation were offered, as justice motivation and social identity theories predict. The current results inform interdisciplinary discussions of the potential effects of apologies and compensation by suggesting additional psychological effects of redress. They also demonstrate that, despite concerns that the majority will backlash against their government giving apologies and compensation, majority group members increased their favor of redress measures once they were offered.

Citizenship acquisition is often interpreted as indicating an immigrants successful integration into their new society. The literature includes a variety of behavioural, but not psychological, indicators of integration in the prediction of citizenship acquisition. Using an intergroup relations perspective, this study examined Asian immigrants intentions to become Canadian citizens. <p>Social identity theory was used to conceptualize the formation of a Canadian identity as an indicator of psychological integration into Canada. It was hypothesized that the stronger immigrants identify with Canada, the more likely they will want to acquire Canadian citizenship. Perceived discrimination and cultural incompatibility, as acculturative barriers to the formation of a Canadian identity, were hypothesized to relate negatively to intentions to acquire Canadian citizenship. The relationship between immigrants cultural identity and citizenship acquisition intentions was also explored, as was the importance of psychological predictors in relation to behavioural predictors of citizenship acquisition intentions. <p>One hundred and fourteen immigrants to Canada from Asia completed an Internet questionnaire about their experiences in Canada, and their intentions to become Canadian citizens. The results showed a positive relationship (r = .55) between respondents strength of Canadian identification and their intentions to apply for Canadian citizenship, as well as an unexpected positive relationship (r = .15) between their perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the Canadian labour market and their citizenship acquisition intentions. Cultural identity and perceptions of cultural incompatibility were unrelated to their citizenship acquisition intentions.<p>A hierarchical multiple regression showed that the combination of English ability, length of time lived in Canada, participation in Canadian society, Canadian Identification, and Perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the labour market accounted for 36.5% of the variance in citizenship acquisition intentions. Only Canadian identification and perceptions of discrimination contributed uniquely to the variance. It was concluded that Canadian identity is importantly related to immigrants citizenship acquisition intentions, and that psychological acculturation is relevant to the study of citizenship acquisition. These novel findings are important and expand the citizenship acquisition literature as well as contribute to the further development of social identity theory.