Abstract
Identity as a governance and coordination mechanism plays an important role in placemaking. It empowers community movements to build up a common space worthwhile to live in with pride and strengthen the attachment to their place. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between identity and neighborhood-based (or community-based) activism through the covariance structure analysis. The analysis is based on a survey of community activities in Nichinan, a town which is an example of a typical depopulating rural area in Japan. To answer the questions of how and why identity motivates community activism, some literature reviews were conducted on identity to mobilize collective action and several cases of having implemented a focus on regional identity especially in depopulating hilly and mountainous areas in Japan. The validity of the covariance structure analysis on identity and community activities was confirmed and the results showed that identity has a significant relationship with community activities. Finally, a policy to motivate identities which could foster marginal area development is proposed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akerlof, G. A., & Kranton, R. E. (2000). Economics and identity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(3), 715–753.
Akerlof, G. A., & Kranton, R. E. (2005). Identity and the economics of organization. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1), 9–32.
Akerlof, G. A., & Kranton, R. E. (2010). Identity economics: How our identities shape our works, wages, and well-being. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Brewer, M. B., Manzi, J., & Shaw, J. S. (1993). In-group identification as a function of depersonalization, distinctiveness, and status. Psychological Science, 4, 88–92.
Campbell, D. T. (1958). Common fate, similarity, and other indices of the status of aggregates of persons as social entities. Behavioral Science, 3, 14–25.
Dickinson, R. W. (1970). Regional ecology. New York: Wiley.
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. New York: Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1974). Dimensions of a new identity. New York: Norton.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma and social identity, stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Hatori, T., Kataoka, Y., & Makino, D. (2015). Study on a measure to develop civic pride through particpatory and circular “community memory map”: Case of a community program targeting regional forests “Sao-no-mori” in Mendori Town at Shikoku-chuo City. Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan, 50(3), 445–450.
Melucci, A. (1989). Nomads of the present: Social movements and individual needs in contemporary society. London: Hutchinson Radius.
Melucci, A. (1996). Challenging codes: Collective action in the information age. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ministry of Public Management. (1960–2005). National Census. Japan.
Morgan, F. W. (1939). Three aspects of regional consciousness. Sociological Review, 31, 68–88.
Ohori. (2010). The complexity of local identity: An examination of the direction for uses of the concept. Journal of Social Science, 61(5–6), 143-158.
Paasi, A. (2001). Bounded spaces in the mobile world: Deconstructing ‘regional identity’. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 93(2), 137–148.
Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place-identity: Physical world socialization of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 57–83.
Puddifoot, J. E. (1995). Dimensions of community identity. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 5, 357–370.
Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Arndt, J., & Schimel, J. (2004). Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 435–468.
Sani, F., Bowe, M., Herrera, M., Manna, C., Cossa, T., Miao, X., et al. (2007). Perceived collective continuity: Seeing groups as entities that move through time. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 1118–1134.
Suzuki, H., & Fujii, S. (2007). The study on effect of attachment toward shops on place attachment. Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan, 42(3), 13–18 (in Japanese).
Suzuki, H., & Fujii, S. (2008a). Study on effects of place attachment on cooperative behavior local area. Infrastructure Planning Review of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, 25(2), 357–362 (in Japanese).
Suzuki, H., & Fujii, S. (2008b). Study on effects of contact level to regional environment during travel on emotional attachment to local areas. Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Division D: Infrastructure Planning and Management, 64(2), 179–189 (in Japanese).
Suzuki, H., & Fujii, S. (2009). Study about effects of large scale retail shops on shopping behavior and place attachment: Case studies in Toyohashi city and Takamatsu city. Infrastructure Planning Review of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, 26(2), 307–314. (in Japanese).
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & L. W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Tarn, W. W. (1974). Hellenistic civilization. New York: New American Library.
Toyota, H. (2000). Covariance structure analysis: Structural equation modeling (basic). Tokyo: Asakura Publishing (in Japanese).
Toyota, H. (2006). Covariance structure analysis: Structural equation modeling (applied). Tokyo: Asakura Publishing (in Japanese).
Tsujimoto, C. (2015). A introduced the effect of promoting sports tourism as a part of local revitalization by utilizing the local identity of health. Journal of Osaka University of Tourism, 15(15), 23–32.
Ulansey, D. (2000). Cultural transition and spiritual transformation: From Alexander the Great to cyberspace. In T. Singer (Ed.), Myth, politics, and psyche in the world (pp. 213–231). London and New York: Routledge.
van Kinppenberg, A., & Ellemers, N. (1993). Strategies in intergroup relations. In M. Hogg & D. Abrams (Eds.), Group motivation (pp. 17–32). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Wichardt, P. C. (2008). Identity and why we cooperate with those we do. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29, 127–139.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jeong, H., Matsushima, K., Kobayashi, K. (2019). The Role of Identity in Community Activities of Marginal Rural Areas. In: Leimgruber, W., Chang, Cy. (eds) Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges. Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04393-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04393-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04392-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04393-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)