Mechanisms of Shaping Group Symbolic Boundaries

This chapter examines a group of Christian Protestants in Beijing, aiming to unveil the social psychological processes and mechanisms behind the formation of group symbolic boundaries in social life. It is observed that through social categorization, symbolic boundaries between the Christian group and they-groups are formed; through processes of social comparison, these boundaries, also intergroup symbolic boundaries, are continuously reinforced; through the customary and exemplary social actions within the in-group, the group culture, style, and social representation system carried by group memory are continuously produced and reproduced, thus continuously producing and reproducing the intergroup symbolic boundaries. This chapter also seeks to stimulate and inspire religious studies, group studies, and even the construction of general theories of group symbolic boundaries.