ABSTRACT
The author argues that a common umbrella identity binds policy-makers, media organizations/workers and the public. The important point is that a super-ordinate category exists and a category's existence is enough to activate feelings of social identity. Specifically, the differences are between policy-makers and media organizations, between policy-makers and the public, and between media organizations and the public. Likewise, the presence of similarities in policy concerns can unite the people within each entity. Concurrently, the lack of similarities or the presence of differences in a given socio-cognitive context can mean that sub-group identities. Media organizations are also seldom impartial in their representations of public policy issues. Self-categorization theory also explains how people can ally themselves to one group identity in one situation, then ally themselves to a different group identity in another situation, such as being a politician. Public policy-makers often find out about the public popularity of policy proposals or revisions from media representations of public opinion.
