Restoring Civil Societies

Breakdowns in civil societies can be catalyzed by factors ranging from war and genocide to natural disaster, disease and economic downturns. Restoring Civil Societies examines social processes related to civic engagement in the wake of these societal ruptures. The authors show how crises in civil society can be both pervasive and localized, broad-based and limited to defined social sub-groups. Whatever their scale, Restoring Civil Societies identifies models that analyze the social psychology of crises in order to devise ways of re-activating civic engagement and safeguarding civil society. Focusing on these positive interventions, the authors identify a number of key strategies, ranging from the simplicity and directness of bystander interventions to the volunteer armies mobilized in the wake of natural disasters. They include collective action organized to redress systemic inequalities, and the vital healing role played by truth commissions in Rwanda and elsewhere. Restoring Civil Societies fills the gap between basic research on social issues and translation into social policies and programs-an area which, in light of current economic and social unrest, is more important now than ever.

Auteur

Thomas A. Morton is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at
the University of Exeter, UK. His research focuses on how people
experience and express their social identities, and the strategic
considerations and reality constraints that govern these processes.
His work on this theme has covered such topics as conflict and
forgiveness, intragroup processes, deviance and change, prejudice,
and stereotyping. He is currently Associate Editor for the British
Journal of Social Psychology.

Kai J. Jonas is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the
University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He studied social
sciences and mathematics at the University of Gottingen, Germany.
Since 2008 he has been tenured assistant professor at the
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, publishing in
international journals such as Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. He has
also developed, implemented and documented applied intervention
programs.

Contenu

Notes on Contributors ix

Series Editor's Preface xix

1 Introduction 1

Kai J. Jonas and Thomas A. Morton

Part I Theoretical Approaches 17

2 Justice Sensitivity as Resource or Risk Factor in Civic
Engagement 19

Anna Baumert, Nadine Thomas, and Manfred Schmitt

3 Regulating Psychological Threat: The Motivational Consequences
of Threatening Contexts 38

Bastiaan T. Rutjens, Joop van der Pligt, and Frenk van
Harreveld

4 Prosocial Behavior in the Context of Crisis 57

Kai J. Jonas

5 A Social Ecological Perspective on Risk and Resilience for
Children and Political Violence: Implications for Restoring Civil
Societies 78

E. Mark Cummings, Laura K. Taylor, and Christine E.
Merrilees

6 Everyday Helping and Responses to Crises: A Model for
Understanding Volunteerism 98

Allen M. Omoto, Mark Snyder, and Justin D. Hackett

7 Collective Action as Civic Engagement: Toward an Encompassing
Psychological Perspective 119

Martijn van Zomeren, Tom Postmes, and Russell Spears

8 Intergroup Relations in Post-Conflict Contexts: How the Past
Influences the Present (and Future) 135

John F. Dovidio, Samuel L. Gaertner, Ruth K. Ditlmann, and Tessa
V. West

9 Humanizing Others Without Normalizing Harm: The Role of Human
Concepts and Categories in Intergroup Reconciliation and
Forgiveness 156

Thomas A. Morton, Matthew J. Hornsey, and Tom Postmes

Part II Application and Intervention 175

10 Social Rituals and Collective Expression of Emotion After a
Collective Trauma: Participation in Gacaca and Assimilation of the
Rwandan Genocide 177

Bernard Rimé, Patrick Kanyangara, Dario Paez, and Vincent
Yzerbyt

11 Competitive Victimhood Among Jewish and Palestinian Israelis
Reflects Differential Threats to Their Identities: The Perspective
of the Needs-Based Model 192

Nurit Shnabel and Masi Noor

12 Identity, Conflict, and the Experience of Trauma: The Social
Psychology of Intervention and Engagement Following Political
Violence 208

Orla T. Muldoon and Robert D. Lowe

13 Divided by a Common Language? Conceptualizing Identity,
Discrimination, and Alienation 222

Leda M. Blackwood, Nick Hopkins, and Stephen D. Reicher

14 Civil Society Responses to the HIV/AIDS Crisis: The Role of
Social Representations in Shaping Collective and Individual Action
237

Stefan StEURurmer and Birte Siem

15 Opinion-Based Groups and the Restoration of Civil Society
250

Craig McGarty, Girish Lala, and Emma Thomas

16 Moral Courage Training Programs as a Means of Overcoming
Societal Crises 265

Veronika BrandstEURatter and Kai J. Jonas

17 Media as an Instrument for Reconstructing Communities
Following Conflict 284

Elizabeth Levy Paluck

Index 299