'Enemy of the people': family identity as social cure and curse dynamics in contexts of human rights violations

Kellezi, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4825-3624, Guxholli, A, Stevenson, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2438-6425, Wakefield, JRH ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9155-9683, Bowe, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0491-1472 and Bridger, K ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4215-4927, 2021. 'Enemy of the people': family identity as social cure and curse dynamics in contexts of human rights violations. European Journal of Social Psychology. ISSN 0046-2772

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Abstract

Although Social Cure research shows the importance of family identification in one’s ability to cope with stress, there remains little understanding of family responses to human rights violations. This is the first study to explore the role of family identity in the collective experience of such violations: meanings ascribed to suffering, family coping strategies, and family-based understandings of justice. Semi-structured interviews (N=27) with Albanian dictatorship survivors were analysed using Social Identity Theory informed thematic analysis. The accounts reveal Social Cure processes at work, whereby family groups facilitated shared meaning-making, uncertainty reduction, continuity, resilience-building, collective self-esteem, and support, enhanced through common fate experiences. As well as being curative, families were contexts for Social Curse processes, as relatives shared suffering and consequences collectively, whilst also experiencing intergenerational injustice and trauma. Although seeking and achieving justice remains important, the preservation of family identity is one of the triumphs in these stories of suffering.

Item Type:	Journal article
Alternative Title:	Family identification, social cure, social curse and human rights violations [running head]
Publication Title:	European Journal of Social Psychology
Creators:	Kellezi, B., Guxholli, A., Stevenson, C., Wakefield, J.R.H., Bowe, M. and Bridger, K.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	5 February 2021
ISSN:	0046-2772
Identifiers:	Number Type 1405845 Other 10.1002/ejsp.2750 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	05 Feb 2021 10:19
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2023 09:54
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/42193

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