ABSTRACT
In chapters 2 and 3, we identified a number of theoretical chasms dividing the dominant approaches taken in the study of identity. A primary aim in writing this book is to help fill these chasms by bridging the work of psychologists and sociologists as it pertains to the study of identity. In this chapter, we attempt to explain in clear, non-partisan terms how the psychological and sociological approaches fundamentally differ in terms of their underlying assumptions. In doing this we hope to begin a bridgebuilding project that others will take up in the effort to create a social psychology of identity. As we hope to show, when the divergent approaches of psychologists and sociologists are understood, the points of potential integration become clearer.
