Identification in work, war, sports, and religion: Contrasting the benefits and risks

Social identification appears to be a ubiquitous phenomenon. However, it is not clear why one would want to identify with a particular entity. We argu e that the potential benefits of identification include enhanced self-estee m transcendence of self, meaning, belonging, and raised aspirations. We exp lore the nature of identification with several traditional foci, namely wor k organizations, war las an expression of patriotism), spectator sports, an d religious values and groups. We discuss land contrast) the extent to whic h the benefits of identification can he attained in each domain and thr fut ure of each domain as an identification object.