What is the relationship between self-esteem and identity? More specifically, how, if at all, does self-esteem impact the concepts and processes that lie at the heart of identity theory: role performances, identity salience, and social network commitments premised on the role-identity? Conversely, how, if at all, is self-esteem impacted by the identity theory processes? It is the purpose of this chapter to address these questions in theoretical terms.
THE IMPORT OF THE QUESTIONS RAISED
The questions raised are interesting and potentially important from several points of view. From the standpoint of a social psychology that places the concept of “self” at the center of its concerns (and there is no concept more central to today's social psychology, either sociological or psychological, than “self”), successfully relating self-esteem and identity theory is a step in achieving some degree of theoretical integration over a significant portion of the domain of social psychology. From the standpoint of those interested in understanding the sources and the consequences of self-esteem, there is the possibility of extending self-esteem theory by showing how self-esteem is responsive to social structure in more ways than has been previously shown. That is, prior work on the social structural sources of self-esteem has largely focused on stratification variables – social class, gender, race, ethnicity. Identity theory incorporates another order of structural variables, those taking the form of social networks premised on role-relationships, that may be of particular import to self-esteem.