GROUP DISTINCTIVENESS AND SOCIAL IDENTITY OF A LOW-STATUS GROUP

How members of a low-status group may strive to establish a positive s ocial identity was investigated. The relationship among group identifi cation, recognition of ingroup distinctiveness, and evaluations of the group and members was examined, using structural equation modeling. T he participants were students at a Japanese vocational school. The res ults indicated that group identification had a strong direct effect on both group and member evaluations and that there was an indirect effe ct mediated by the recognition of group distinctiveness. Further, the effect of identification was observed when it pertained to group membe rship per se but not when it was based on interpersonal attraction amo ng members.