Identity-Based Organizations
American Economic Review · 2016 · Volume 106 · Issue 5
Abstract
A single club model describes the collective production of both personal and social identity. Personal identity, how one perceives oneself, is formed through a process of cultural transmission. Social identity, how one is perceived by others, takes the form of collective reputation. Our model of identity-based organizations incorporates into the economics of identity insights from the economics of religion and cultural transmission. The identities that develop tend to be oppositional. Organizations devoted to more extreme identities are able to support higher levels of participation and collective action.
Keywords
Consumer Economics: Theory, Organizational Behavior, Transaction Costs, Property Rights, Social Choice, Clubs, Committees, Associations, Economic Sociology, Economic Anthropology, Language, Social and Economic Stratification
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.