Coping with negative social identity: the case of Mexican immigrants

Social identity theory suggests that an individual's self-concept is shaped through group identification and positive social identities are established by favorably comparing the individual's in-group against an out-group. When unfavorable intergroup comparisons occur, individuals perceive a negative social identity. Because of the motivation to maintain a positive self-concept, this perception creates a need to cope. On the basis of face-to-face interviews with Mexican immigrants, the author examined the ways in which negative social-identity perceptions triggered different coping mechanisms. The findings offer support for two coping mechanisms--individual mobility and social creativity, with social creativity used more often than individual mobility.