To What Extent Does Social Identity Determine Job Choice

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Recommended: Limitations of the social identity approach

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES SOCIAL IDENTITY DETERMINE JOB CHOICE

The literature review focuses on the collection of secondary data on the research topic, which is the extent to which social identity determines job choice. The literature review is conducted under three major themes, which act as the pivotal basis for constructing theoretical meaning to the larger research problem.

The Social Identity Theory

Studies on social identity have been dated back to centuries. According to Heckman (2006) the reason social identity studies remain very important to academicians and professionals is for the fact that all people are social being and that at every point in time, it is important to find the impact of the social system on an individual. Based on this, social identity has been explained by Gullason (2009) as being an understanding of a person’s self-concept as relates to the person’s assumed placement in a given social group. By extension, social identity tries to explain factors that determine how a person behaves in a social group. Heckman (2006) conducted further studies into the concept of social identity and noted that because people come into the world as individual beings, acquiring social status is relatively a external and strange phenomenon for any person. In light of this, different people would take different approaches to their relevant social groups, depending on their personal beliefs and way of life. However, once a person becomes part of a given social group, there are determinants that can be used to predict key intergroup behaviours on the basis of several variables (Cunha and Heckman, 2007). Whiles Gullason (2009) names perceived group status differences and perceived ability to move from group to group, Duncan (2...

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...pirical Estimate of One Aspect, Journal of Human Resources 24(2): 287-298.

Heckman, J. J. (2006), A Life-Cycle Model of Earnings, Learning and Consumption, Journal of Political Economy 84: S11-S44.

Hoff, Karla and Priyanka Pandey (2006), Discrimination, Social Identity, and Durable Inequalities, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 96(2): 206-211. 29

Humlum M., Kleinjans K. and Nielsen H. (2007). An Economic Analysis of Identity and Career Choice. IZA. Vol. 32 (20); pp. 2-6.

Stets, J. E. and Burke P. J. (2000), Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory, Social Psychology Quarterly 63(3): 224-237.

Wolfe, B. L. and Haveman R. H. (2003), Social and Nonmarket Bene.ts from Education in an Advanced Economy. In Yolanda Kodrzycki (Ed.), Education in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing World, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: Boston: 96-131.

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