Changing Boundaries of Ethnic Identity and Feelings Toward Ingroup/ Outgroup: Examining Taiwan Residents From a Psycho-Historical Perspective

Subjective group identification may not always be based on common biological origins or group salience, but rather, due to changes in group power. The present cross-temporal meta-analysis documents the transformation of Taiwan residents ’ identification as both Taiwanese and Chinese during recent decades, in which the legitimacy of Chinese power over Taiwan was changed. The relations between identification and feelings toward Taiwanese and Chinese were also examined. Results suggest that historical memories and the political ascendancy of Taiwanese culture, rather than relative size of groups, increased identification with Taiwanese over Chinese. Historical and ethnic differences are compared to address ingroup favoritism, outgroup derogation, and other issues in social identity theory. Keywords content of ethnic identity, social constructionism, primordialism, social identity theory, meta-analysis In a century marked by human migration and conflicts, social identification and the content of social identities have become important and complex. Social identification and the content of social identities have profound effects on individual actions, crowd behavior (Reicher, 1996), a