Globalisation and global concern: Developing a social psychology of human responses to global challenges

Abstract

The process of globalisation has gained tremendous momentum over recent decades, resulting in unprecedented human interconnectedness and awareness of global concerns. The current special issue of the European Journal of Social Psychology brings together 10 papers that address this development. This special issue showcases different perspectives on the psychological processes that underlie the cognitive and behavioural responses to the global challenges humankind has created and is now facing. In introducing these contributions, we identified three emerging topics for social psychological theorising and application vis-à-vis globalisation and global concerns: (i) supranational identification and attachment, (ii) political and ideological responses to globalisation and global concerns, and (iii) global protest and change. We integrate these topics by highlighting some future prospects of this emerging field of research and its significance for understanding social change in these tumultuous times.

When and how social movements mobilize action within and across nations to promote solidarity with refugees

“…One possibility is that, for people who had entrenched worldviews that opposed the movement of people (high SDO and RWA), exposure to the issue through social media crystallized their non‐support (a “polarizing” effect). Such a pattern would help to explain the widespread political polarization that the image provoked (Reese, Rosenmann, & McGarty, ). On the other hand, there is evidence that the image of Aylan Kurdi effectively mobilized large swathes of the population who had not previously been active on this issue (Smith, McGarty, & Thomas, ).…”

Global identification, xenophobia and globalisation: A cross‐national exploration

“…While the importance of globalisation for social identity is increasingly being recognised (Arnett, ), globalisation has only recently been addressed by social‐psychology research (Reese, Rosenmann, & McGarty, ). As Reysen & Katzarska‐Miller note, “Calls for greater attention to the effects of cultural (Adams & Markus, ) and global (Arnett, ) influences on everyday life have been relatively ignored” (, p. 859).…”

Transnational contact and challenging global poverty: Intergroup contact intensifies (the right kind of) social identities to promote solidarity‐based collective action for those low in social dominance

“…It is also the case that the current research moves the study of intergroup contact to a novel and relatively under‐explored domain: transnational contact between members of one nation and others. Although intergroup contact has traditionally been studied in relation to within‐nation intergroup relations (Pettigrew & Tropp, ), we live in an increasingly globalized world which is fostering unprecedented human connectedness and awareness (Reese, Rosenmann, & McGarty, ). Understanding the effects of contact with people from other countries (both advantaged and disadvantaged) seems an important next step for promoting harmony and justice at the global level.…”