Globalization, Social Identities and Employment
| Author | P. Herriot,W. Scott–Jackson |
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00241 |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
Globalization and social change
The basic element of globalization, together with
its concomitant features, is not greatly contested.
Globalization’s central feature is the recent
considerable increase in the mobility of capital
and labour. Associated with this increase is a
variety of other recent trends with which global-
ization has come to be identified more broadly
(Reich, 1991). Some of these are as follows:
• finance capital more frequently takes the form
of direct foreign investment, while financial
instruments multiply and are increasingly
distanced from the production of goods and
services;
• multi-national corporations and supra-national
institutions have increased in power and
wealth, whilst most nation states appear to
have decreased (Dunning, 1992; Ohmae, 1995);
• supply of many goods and commodities is ex-
cessive, and demand is continually engineered
for new ones (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994);
• information technology appears to operate as
a positive feedback system, whereby informa-
tion and knowledge are continuously generated
and feed back into more highly developed
systems (Castells, 1996).
British Journal of Management, Vol. 13, 249–257 (2002)
© 2002 British Academy of Management
Globalization, Social Identities and
Employment
P. Herriot and W. Scott-Jackson*
Department of Psychology, School of Human Sciences,
University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7JE, UK and
*Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance Centre (SKOPE), Department of Economics,
University of Oxford, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ, UK
On the basis of social identity theory, we predict various outcomes of current reactions
against globalization which have important implications for the management of
employees. Globalization and its associated developments have added impetus to two
social trends: increases in inequality and in individualism. Inequalities have increased
both between and within nations, whilst individualism is increasingly apparent in social
life in general, and in organizational life in particular. It is argued that individualism
has led to a preference for personal identities over social identities, but that these are
not always satisfying because they are often based upon consumerist values. Moreover,
inequalities have resulted in feelings of injustice. Consequently certain social move-
ments have increased in popularity. The most important of these are religious
fundamentalism, nationalism and single-issue politics.
Increasing numbers of employees have at least one of these social identities central
to their selves. Social identity and self-categorization theory suggest certain hypotheses
about the likely implications for employment. First, to the extent that these social
identities are salient for employees in the work situation, they will maintain the beliefs,
values and norms associated with their identity at the expense of organizational beliefs,
values or norms which are incompatible. Second, they will further the interests of their
own category at the expense of other social categories of employee. Third, they will fail
to differentiate between individuals within their own category, and between individuals
within other categories. The implications of these hypotheses, if supported, for organ-
izations are then explored. Finally, certain preventative strategies, also based upon
social identity theory, are described.
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