Micro, Meso, and Macro Processes in Identity Change: The 2020 Cooley-Mead Award Address

Abstract

I discuss how social psychologists can think about identity change as a nested phenomenon. Identity change occurs at the micro level, but it is embedded in meso and macro levels of social reality. I use changes in the religious identity in the United States as an example of how we can conceptualize identity change in this way. This approach enables us to broaden the scope of social psychological work to be more inclusive of the various social forces at all levels of social reality that impact the human processes we study.