The Sources of Social Acceptance of O therness . An Analysis of the Inner Identity Structure Mechanisms Responsible for Individual and Collective Identifications

Abstract

This paper focuses on attitudes of acceptance towards Otherness in the social world. The discussion is based on the assumptions of the social identity model, according to which exclusion and discrimination originate in the process of social categorisation.1 Seeking personal gain in the form of self-worth, people tend to favour members of the social category they identify with. Consequently, in an attempt to reduce exclusion and discrimination it is necessary to refer to the social ability to instil and activate the resource of universal categorisations as the foundation for social identifications and group processes. To comprehend society’spartial (and externally motivated) lability regarding the Other/Stranger, one must reconstruct the three principal dimensions of this emergent process – individual, interactive and institutional (as a reflection of the structural order). The article puts forward a thesis that highlights the unique role of the individual identity as an essential factor in generating a change of attitude towards the Other/Stranger and turning it into a much more open and accepting one.