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Us, You, and Them: Identity Recognition and World Divisions Through Multiple Lenses

· 5 min read
Chan Meng
Chan Meng
👩‍💻 AI Agent & Full-Stack Developer | 🤖 Agentic Systems & LLM Integration Expert | 🌸 FemTech Innovator | ✨ Minimalist Code Aesthetics | 🌐 UN CSW 69 Speaker

📹 Mentor Q&A Session Video​

As a mentor for the 2025 Summer SheXing Activity, I shared deep reflections on identity recognition and social group divisions at the mentor group Q&A session on July 27, 2025.

🎯 Core Ideas Overview​

Speech Core

This speech deeply explores the construction process of basic social categories like "us," "you," and "them," revealing the power dynamics, discourse construction, and psychological mechanisms behind identity recognition.

📚 Theoretical Framework​

Social Identity Theory​

Three Core Processes of Social Identity

  1. Social Categorization - Dividing people into different groups
  2. Social Identification - Recognizing and identifying with one's group membership
  3. Social Comparison - Gaining positive distinctiveness through inter-group comparison

🌍 Multiple Narrative Perspectives​

Imagined Communities​

Concept Source: Benedict Anderson

Core Viewpoint: Nation-states are "imagined communities"

Maintenance Mechanisms: • Shared historical memory • Cultural symbols (flags, anthems) • Mass media dissemination

Double-edged Sword of Narrative

National narratives are both a source of cohesion and can potentially lead to conflict and division.

🧠 Psychological Mechanism Analysis​

🎯 In-group Favoritism

Favoring members of one's own group to enhance self-esteem

👥 Out-group Homogeneity Bias

Believing "they're all the same," ignoring out-group diversity

🛡️ Terror Management Theory

Managing death anxiety through group identification

🧬 Evolutionary Psychology Perspective

Group loyalty may have evolutionary adaptiveness

🌈 Insights from Intersectionality Theory​

Intersectionality

Proposed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, emphasizing the multiplicity and complexity of individual identity. A person can simultaneously belong to multiple "us" groups, facing unique, compound experiences.

Important Insights from Intersectionality:​

📍 No universal, homogeneous group experience exists

🔍 Must focus on the interaction of multiple power structures

🤝 Avoid covering one group's specificity with another group's "us"

💻 New Challenges in the Digital Age​

Fluidity and Solidification of Identity​

Dual Effects:

✨ Positive: Promotes cultural exchange, catalyzes hybrid identities

⚠️ Negative: Triggers local identity anxiety, strengthens exclusionary consciousness

🚀 Future Outlook: Transcending Binary Opposition​

Paths to Building an Inclusive "Greater Us"

  • 🤔 Cultivate critical thinking, examine narrative frameworks
  • 💬 Promote cross-group dialogue, break stereotypes
  • ⚖️ Build just social structures, reduce power inequality
  • 🌍 Embrace identity complexity, find common ground

📖 Conclusion​

Core Insight

The boundaries between "us" and "them" are not fixed but are products of social construction. Recognizing the artificiality and fluidity of these divisions is the first step toward a more inclusive and just society.

The future challenge lies in how to acknowledge and respect differences while striving to find and build a more inclusive "greater us" that promotes common welfare. This requires us to view the world's differences and problems with a more macro, nuanced, and empathetic perspective.

This article is compiled from the speech content of the SheXing Activity Mentor Group Q&A session on July 27, 2025.