Structural symbolic interaction and identity theory: Current achievements and challenges for the future

This chapter summarizes the findings in prior chapters of this book and synthesizes these chapters' theoretical and methodological contributions to advancing identity theory and structural symbolic interaction. Consistent with the book's core thematic, this chapter discusses contributions made by prior chapters both to the foundational core of identity theory and to efforts to bridge between identity theory and structural symbolic interaction and other theories and paradigms in social psychology, sociology, and the social and behavioral sciences more broadly. The chapter argues that priorities for future research include addressing explicitly the question of where identity standards come from, the causes and consequences of commitment, and more generally, issues at the interface of identity theory's structural and perceptual control research agendas. The chapter also emphasizes the utility of identity theory for answering important questions in many areas of macro-sociology and urges more engagement between social psychologists of identity and macro-sociologists researching such topics as immigration, education, health, crime, law and deviance, culture, the state and politics, inequality, including class, race and gender, networks, social movements, and religion.