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Life-Sparring Podcast - Round 13: Prof. Elizabeth George & Prof. Prithviraj “Raja” Chattopadhyay - Identity (Re)Search

Synopsis:

Round 13 of the Life-Sparring Podcast is in multiple ways the most ambitious episode yet. With Professor Elizabeth George and Professor Prithviraj Chattopadhyay, I face not just one but two academic heavyweights in the virtual Life-Sparing ring, and our topic is nothing less than the eternal question “Who Am I.”

As Professors of Management, both Elizabeth and Raja have spent large parts of their professional lives researching and teaching what makes organizations tick and run. The social and personal identity of employees is a recurring theme of their research. In our almost one-hour-long discussion, we cover many aspects of Elizabeth’s and Raja’s Identity (Re-)Search.

We are starting by talking about the definition of identity and the difference between the personal identity (who do you think you are?), the social identity (who are you in the context of society?), and relational identity (your role in relation to other people).

One aspect that Raja emphasized quite a bit in the early part of the conversation is the close relationship between identity and status. We also discuss the impact of social media and if we have more freedom today to choose our identities.

In her answer to my question on the relationship between mental health and identity, Elizabeth explains the concept of optimal distinctiveness. To be happy with yourself, you want to be similar enough to others to belong and different enough to feel special. On the other hand, Raja explained that according to social identity theory, you get mainly two positive effects from identifying as a member of an organization, be it a football club or a company: you bask in the glory of the successful organization and being a member of an organization reduces uncertainties by giving you a fixed role to play.

COVID-19 and the prevalent home office and Zoom call situation are interesting social experiments on the equalizing effect of being not physically in the same room. Elizabeth and Raja share fascinating research results from pre-covid times that provide valuable context for the times we live in.

We might not have answered all questions around identity and agreed that there is still a lot to research and explore. Still, I had a blast with this intense and intellectually stimulating round of Life-Sparring and hope you are enjoying the show too.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Prof. Elizabeth George - Official Website

Prof. Elizabeth George - Profile at the University of Auckland, NZ

Prof. Prithviraj Chattopadhyay - Profile at the University of Auckland, NZ

The Asymmetrical Influence of Sex Dissimilarity in Distributive vs. Colocated Work Groups - Publication

Not in My Pay Grade: The Relational Benefit of Pay Grade Dissimilarity - Publication and YouTube Abstract

Newcomer Identification: Trends, Antecedents, Moderators, and Consequences - Publication

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About the Life-Sparring Podcast:

Sparring is an important part of martial arts; it is the reality check of your abilities. As Mike Tyson famously said: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Life-Sparring takes the sparring from the ring into real life. Hear Life-Sparring host Fabian Gruber punching above his weight, interviewing top experts in their respective fields, trying to fight (his own) mediocrity one round at a time.

The Life-Sparring podcast is hosted by Fabian Gruber and produced by Thomas Latter.

Intro and Outro beat is produced by Markezi Producer.

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