Immigration and its impact on aggregate welfare state preferences and welfare state reform has been the subject of numerous academic and political debates. Despite prolonged attention to these issues, however, empirical research has yielded mixed results concerning what effect, if any, immigration has the structure and generosity of the welfare state. This issue is further exacerbated by the absence of concerted conceptual cross-germination between the various theoretical literatures that examine immigration's effect on various social, economic, and political outcomes, making it difficult to identify the mechanisms through which immigration may shape the welfare state. To address these issues, I draw on social psychological research, theories of the welfare state, research on radical right-wing parties, and case studies from the United States to argue that changes in both the volume and characteristics of immigrants entering Western Europe might: 1) undermine the cross-class alliances necessary for maintaining the welfare state, 2) reduce public support for welfare programs, and 3) provide politicians on the far-right with a symbolic resource that can be used to justify cutting/restructuring welfare state programs believed to benefit immigrants. Empirical examinations of these arguments using a wide range of data sources indicate that immigration may be directly and indirectly related to welfare state spending. With regard to the former, the data indicate that the influx of migrants from less-developed countries into social and Christian democratic countries has contributed to rising program demand and corresponding increases in expenditures on more reactive welfare state programs (i.e., unemployment benefits). With regard to the indirect impact of immigration on the welfare state, analyses of voting and public opinion data demonstrate that changes in immigration have contributed to the electoral success of predominantly neoliberal, far-right, nationalist parties and contributed to rising levels of anti-immigrant sentiment over time. These factors, in turn, resulted in: 1) declines in popular support for those social and Christian democratic parties that are dedicated to the maintenance and/or expansion of the welfare state, and 2) reductions in average levels of support for welfare state programs designed to address issues of unemployment, making the welfare state more vulnerable to future retrenchment.

This investigation sought to extend research in mediated intergroup communication by examining the role of emotion in producing intergroup bias. Two studies were guided by social identity theory, appraisal-based theories of emotion, and cultivation theory. Study 1 surveyed 254 adults, recruited through student referrals. Drawing insight from previous content analytic research and cultivation theory, results indicated that the media plays an important role in cultivating emotional reactions toward racial minorities. Overall daily television consumption was associated with experiencing anxiety-related emotions and distrust-related emotions toward Blacks. Television news consumption was associated with experiencing anger towards Blacks. Overall daily television consumption was associated with experiencing anger and anxiety-related emotions toward Latinos and Asians. Television news consumption was associated with experiencing distrust-related emotions toward Asians. In Study 2 a 2 (Immigration: Threat/No-Threat) X 2 (Ingroup Emotional Norm Endorsement: Present/Absent) plus 1 (Control) experiment examined the impact of mediated intergroup threat on attitudes toward immigration, collective self-esteem, information sharing and seeking behaviors, and policy support, in the context of illegal immigration. This study also examined whether experimental condition indirectly influenced the above-specified outcomes through intergroup emotions. Previous news consumption was examined as a potential moderator of the mediational relationship between experimental condition and intergroup outcomes via intergroup emotions. Results indicate that exposure to intergroup threat via the media directly influence attitudes toward immigrants' human rights and information sharing. Exposure to intergroup threat indirectly influences immigration attitudes through feelings of anxiety. Moreover, exposure to intergroup threat via the media indirectly influences information sharing and support for English-only legislation through feelings of disgust. Conditional indirect effects were found for immigration attitudes, information sharing, and support for English-only legislation. Exposure to threatening intergroup information neither directly, nor indirectly information seeking or emailing congressperson to reduce the number of immigrants allowed in the United States. Results are discussed in light of social identity theory, intergroup threat theory, intergroup emotions theory, and BIAS map research. Taken together, results suggest that the current study's social identity appraisal-based approach provides insight into the role of media in intergroup processes.

Background: Integration of immigrants is an interactive process of learning a new culture, an obtaining of rights, access to a position and status and building of personal relations between migrants and the receiving society.  Their ability to reciprocally adjust to intercultural encounters is one of the most important factors of successful integration. Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate Swedish young adults perception and attitudes towards immigrants and immigrants’ integration into the Swedish society. Furthermore the aim is to study their perception of social interaction of immigrants and the Swedish host society. How Swedish young adults perceive their country’s immigration policy. Method:  A qualitative research, using an online open-ended questionnaire and in-depth telephone interviews were applied to collect the data about Swedish young adults perceptions and attitudes. The transcribed data were subjected to thematic analysis. Result:  The results of the qualitative research helped to understand Swedish young adults perceptions and attitudes. The findings showed that two of the biggest reasons that Swedish young adults support immigration are: humanitarism and labor force. Swedish young adults are very aware of immigrants’ integration in Sweden. They socialize with immigrants and have contact with them in daily basis. Swedish young adults, have a negative opinion regarding Sweden’s immigration policy Conclusion: Swedish young adults define immigrants as a people born in one country but move to another (particularly in Sweden) with an intention to reside there permanently. Regarding their acculturation expectations, they support integration as the best acculturation strategy. They think that immigrants in Sweden are “half way” integrated, geographically segregated, discriminated, prejudiced in different degrees and immigrant woman are the most excluded category.

The underlying theme that draws together all the chapters presented in this thesis is that surveillance, like any feature of our social world, is not imposed in a vacuum; and that information pertaining to the origin and purpose of surveillance is vital in determining how it will be perceived and evaluated (and how it will then impact on behaviour). The key aims of this thesis are, first, to demonstrate how a social identity approach can account for varying reactions to surveillance originating from different sources; second, to investigate how various contextual features exert their impact, resulting in the disparate perceptions of surveillance that exist in our society; and finally, to demonstrate how the imposition of surveillance can itself impact on the broader social context, including the relationship that is understood to exist between those watching and those being watched. These aims are broken down into ten research questions that are addressed in seven chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the literature on perceptions of surveillance and that on social identity, and attempts to illustrate how they may be theoretically combined, resulting in the advancement of both fields. In Chapter 2, we present two studies which demonstrate a negative relationship between shared identity and the perception of surveillance as an invasion of privacy. This relationship was mediated by perceptions that the purpose of surveillance was to ensure safety. In Chapter 3, two studies demonstrate how level of surveillance moderates followers’ responses to leaders with whom they either share identity, or not. Imposing high surveillance where identity was shared with a leader undermined perceptions of the leader as a team member and affected willingness to work for the group, reducing levels to that of leaders without a shared identity. Chapter 4 presents a study that aimed to investigate the role of social identity and surveillance in affecting both discretionary behaviour and task performance. High surveillance led to higher productivity on a task, but this was associated with lower quality of work. Additionally, when identity was shared with the person in charge, helping this person was detrimentally affected by high, as opposed to low, surveillance; whereas no such differences were found where identity was not shared. Chapter 5 presents two studies which showed that framing surveillance as targeting the in-group led to outcomes such as increased privacy invasion, lower acceptability of surveillance, and reduced levels of trust in the implementers of surveillance, as compared to when surveillance was framed as targeting an out-group. However, a third study failed to replicate these results. In Chapter 6, we address how level of threat in the environment can affect evaluations of surveillance. Two studies showed that high levels of threat led to surveillance being seen as less privacy-invading, more necessary, and as having a safety purpose. Finally, in Chapter 7, we review and integrate our findings, discuss the limitations of the research, and consider the implications it has, both theoretically and practically. We conclude that, overall, the findings presented in this thesis support the notion that the source of surveillance and the perceived purpose for it are integral to the perception and interpretation of the surveillance.

This is a comparative study on postgraduate students‘ social experiences in two academic departments: the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Wits School of Business, at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa. This study‘s central questions are: how do postgraduate students from two departments perceive their social experiences? What shaped their perceptions? And how do they compare? This study shows a difference in students‘ perceptions and understandings of the social space in those departments. That is, social interactions at the business school (Wits School of Business) are closely linked to the academic space with the patterns linked to having friends from the same classes and study groups with very high expectations of social life on campus; while in the Faculty of Health Sciences, social interactions are limited and socially orientated with the patterns of having friends from the same department and same region with low expectations on their social life. This difference is explained by means of two main factors, the nature of the academic discipline and the students‘ individual identities that they bring to campus.

Having high employee loyalty is something which most organisation strive to obtain. Not only because of the morals of it, but also because of the fact that high levels of employee loyalty have been proven in many studies to increase operational performance. However, the literature on the concept provides many different definitions on it, and also suggest many different factors that affect how loyal an employee feels towards their organisations. The studies conducted previously on the topic has mainly been quantitative studies researching the connection between levels of loyalty and performance, and at specific companies or industries. As soon to be newly graduated students, the authors of this study also found the lack of comparison between people with different working experience interesting. Due to these reasons, the purpose of this study was to dig deeper into the concept of employee loyalty, how it is defined and which factors that affect the level of loyalty an employee feels towards an organisation. The sub-purposes of this study involve comparing one group of people with 1-3 years of working experience to another group with more than 15 years of working experience. The research question that was developed to be answered in this thesis is as follows: How does the view upon employee loyalty and the factors affecting it differ between people whom have been working for more than 15 years versus 1-3 years?  In order to answer the research questions and fulfil the purpose, a comparative qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews. In line with some previous studies, the Social Identity theory and the Social Exchange theory were used in order to explain the factors affecting employee loyalty. The first focuses upon the level of identification the respondents feel towards different components of the organisation, while the other focuses on factors of exchange between the organisation and its employees. These theories, and theories connected to what employee loyalty is, was used in order to develop a conceptual model which served as a foundation for the data collection, empirical findings, and the analysis.  The empirical findings of this thesis showed that while some definitions of employee loyalty and the factors which are affecting it are similar between the groups, there were also some differences. Employee loyalty was defined by most as someone whom has a behaviour and attitude which is positive, does what is expected from them and whom represents the company in a good manner. The difference between the groups regarding employee loyalty were that the group with more experience seem to have higher demand to classify someone as a loyal employee than the group with less experience has. Moreover, the most evident difference of what affects employee loyalty was that the factor competence development was by far most important for the groups with less experience, while a responsive organisation was what the group with more experience found important in order to keep employees loyal.  Conclusions drawn from this study is that “softer” factors like the relationship’s employees have between each other, the organisational culture, and sense of opportunity for personal growth seem to be far more important for employees than physical benefits. Furthermore, there seem to be some differences regarding employee loyalty between groups with different levels of working experience which is why this thesis recommends organisations to be responsive to its employees’ needs and adapt their management to all employees.

Today, mergers and acquisitions often grab headlines due to the large sums of money involved, and the number of stakeholders affected by it. Still, the increase in merger and acquisition activities, the capital involved, and the pervasiveness of these activities stand in sharp contrast to their high rates of failures. Scholars have attributed the failure of mergers and acquisitions to management failure when it comes to dealing with human aspects during the integration phase. The purpose of this paper was to examine how individual’s identities change overtime in a merger. More specifically, it examines the process of post-merger organizational identification in merger contexts through the lens of social identity theory. From this purpose, we formulated the following research question and two sub-questions: • How can post-merger identification be managed and integrated in an organization? o How can organizational identities transit from a pre-merger state to a post-merger state successfully? o What is the outcome of the post-merger identification process? The method used in this study was qualitative with an interpretive approach, which allowed us to gain a deeper understanding regarding the purpose and to answer our research question. Primary data came from purposive sampling, where 14 semi-structured interviews with individuals with various managerial positions in post-merger integrations were conducted to gain an understanding of how they tackled the integration process. The secondary data used resulted from previous research, literature, articles and other internet sources. The interviews were qualitatively analyzed through a thematic coding procedure. The backbone of our theory consists of perspectives on mergers and acquisitions from the lens of social identity theory. Particularly, it was used to understand the post-merger organizational identification process. The theoretical components were used to understand group formations and intra- and intergroup relationships, the effects mergers have on individuals, and what the effects of the outcomes of post-merger identification have on group and organizational identity. Our findings disclose that organizational identities are exclusive by nature and that they remain in this state unless managerial actions are taken which triggers commitment from groups to change. These actions must combine communication efforts with managerial interventions which promote intergroup cooperation, prototypical norms and values. Depending on the actions and the goal of the merger, the nature of the post-merger identity is a combination of two identities which forms an overarching one, or an assimilation of one identity into another. The contributions from this study come in two forms: theoretical and managerial. The theoretical contributions come through our findings showing how organizational identity emerge, change and how they are formed. The managerial contributions provide recommendations on how practitioners should facilitate the process, the vital role the manager has in the process and approaches they could take based on our findings.

Social media is increasingly used for social protest, but does online participation advance the aims of social movements, or does it undermine efforts for social change? We explore this question in the present thesis by examining how the use of social media for collective action shapes, and is shaped by, the social psychological concerns of technology users. Adopting a diverse approach in terms of research questions and methodology, we examine how collective action is affected by: (1) features of the digital environment, (2) internet-enabled modes of participation, and (3) digitally-facilitated communities. Our findings demonstrate that group-level representations of the self and salient others are integral to the relationship between digital technology and collective action. Ultimately, we argue that digital technology can act as both a psychological bridge and barrier between disparate groups and issues; in this way it can both facilitate and undermine mobilisation efforts and broader aims for social change.

Social exclusion is a psychologically stressful experience that impairs people’s ability to control specific behaviors or events. In the current study, I attempted to reconcile competing predictions regarding whether exclusion is especially harmful to control, or self-regulate, when it is attributed to individual- or group-based characteristics of a person. Per the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model, social exclusion should be most detrimental to self-regulation when it is directed at a person’s unique traits, or individual self. In contrast, social identity theory (SIT) predicts that exclusion is especially damaging when it is directed at a person’s group membership. I examined whether the seemingly contradictory predictions made by SEM and SIT are because they relate to different circumstances concerning the fairness of the exclusion experience. Most research regarding individual-based exclusion involves situations in which the exclusion seems fair, or deserved, whereas research regarding group-based exclusion focuses on discrimination, or unfair exclusion. An online exclusion paradigm (i.e., “College Survivor”) was used to examine the role of fairness. During the Survivor game, Latina women experienced either individual- or group-based exclusion that was either fair or unfair. Afterwards, participants were asked to taste and rate three bowls of chocolate that were ostensibly manufactured in three countries that used different recipes. The findings demonstrated that participants consumed the most calories (i.e., showed the greatest loss of self-control) when exclusion was fair and directed towards their individual selves, or when exclusion was unfair and directed towards their group selves.

The relationship between Black Americans and African immigrants can be described in many ways, and one of those descriptions is distant. Due to a number of reasons, relationships between the two ethnic groups sometimes result in dissociation. In understanding the dissociation between Black Americans and African immigrants, this study takes a look at cultural identity, ethnic identity, avowal and ascription, and how they connect to the issue of dissociation between the two ethnic groups. This study uses social identity theory and mediated intergroup conflict as its theoretical foundation. Narrative approach and grounded theory approach are used as the study’s methodological approaches, and the study also analyzes its findings using three phases of data analysis; memo-writing analysis, narrative analysis, and hermeneutic analysis. Only a few studies concerning the dissociation between Black Americans and African immigrants have been conducted, and it is this study’s objective to add to the current literature. It is important to note that this study is an exploratory research on the dissociation between the two ethnic groups. Overall, the study’s findings indicate that the dissociation between Black Americans and African immigrants is due to the cultural differences between the two ethnic groups and how those differences are communicated.