The Theory of Group Membership

Confronted with the sculpting of multiple social forces, individuals as active actors are endowed with or seek to obtain multiple memberships. They construct or deconstruct/reconstruct multiple social identities to create a dynamic yet unified whole person. Such social identity events emerge in specific intellectual historical conditions and historical contexts, and they are urgently embedded in the process of China's social transformation. Starting with the semantic changes in identity, this chapter critically examines the dilemmas in contemporary social identity research. Based on the construct of group membership, it categorizes the sculpting processes of multiple social forces experienced by individuals throughout their lives into the edification processes of different communities, aiming to offer new solutions beyond existing identity research. Finally, the chapter presents the possible methodological implications of the group membership approach.