ADR-062: social-identity and altruism join the topics

Context

On 2026-10-28 the owner asked how the record stood on self-categorization theory. It held nothing, and the readings that followed had nowhere to go but social-science:

• Turner et al. 1994 (LIT-1794) and Hornsey 2008 (LIT-1742);
• Skorich (LIT-1765), Reimer et al. (LIT-1790) and León (LIT-1721), read in place of the 1987 book (LIT-1723);
• the fandom works registered on 2026-10-16: Biel (LIT-1133), Berendt and Uhrich (LIT-1147), Giulianotti (LIT-1150), and the four not yet read.

social-science is the vocabulary’s widest word (“economics, psychology, anthropology and sociology”). social-ontology asks what a group is. Neither picks out the psychology of membership: when a person sees themselves as one of us, and what follows. By 2026-10-29 that cluster held nine readings, six Proposed THEORYs and some twenty works filed unread.

The same day the owner gave the context of the original question. It came from their position that there is no selflessness: people with collectivist attitudes have a larger self-identity, and collectivism is a self-interest that respects the good of a group identity. The works that bear on it are:

• the empathy–altruism debate (Cialdini et al. 1997 against Batson et al. 1997);
• self-expansion and identity fusion;
• self-construal;
• team reasoning and identity in utility;
• Sober and Wilson on psychological egoism;
• Johnston on the self’s extent.

The record already held part of this under other words: Hamilton’s kin selection (LIT-497, LIT-506, THEORY-655) under natural-sciences, Boehm (LIT-514) under moral-psychology, and Parfit (LIT-469) under personhood. Nothing joined them.

The owner said: “don’t hesitate to expand the tagging vocabulary if you think it’s merited.”

Decision

Add two topics:

• social-identity (Social identity). The psychology of group membership:

  • social identity and self-categorization theory;
  • categorization and salience;
  • identification and its measurement;
  • in-group bias and intergroup relations;
  • rivalry and recategorization;
  • group-based emotion, crowds and fandom.

  What a group is stays social-ontology.

• altruism (Altruism and self-interest). Whether and how action can aim at another’s good rather than one’s own:

  • psychological egoism and the empathy–altruism debate;
  • self–other merging, self-expansion and identity fusion;
  • team reasoning and identity in utility;
  • the evolution of unselfish behaviour;
  • the extent of the self as it bears on what counts as self-interest.

How they are applied:

• First on the works and THEORYs filed in the contribution that adds them, where they are the subject:
  • social-identity: LIT-1794, LIT-1742, LIT-1723, LIT-1765, LIT-1790; THEORY-1114, THEORY-1113, THEORY-1116; and most of the works filed unread on 2026-10-29;
  • altruism: Cialdini et al., Batson et al., Aron et al., Sober and Wilson, Sugden, Akerlof and Kranton; the owner’s thesis (CLAIM-491) and its question and counters.
• Beside the existing tags on works and THEORYs already held whose subject it is. Nothing is removed and primaries are unchanged, as in ADR-035:
  • social-identity: LIT-1721, THEORY-1112, THEORY-1115, THEORY-1111; the fandom LITs 1125, 1131, 1133, 1138, 1140, 1147 and 1150; Pettigrew (LIT-1408); von Scheve and Ismer (LIT-696), for group-based emotion;
  • altruism: Hamilton (LIT-497, LIT-506, THEORY-655), Boehm (LIT-514) and Parfit (LIT-469).
• Not added where the subject is cooperation or fairness without the question of whose good is aimed at: Peters on the cooperation puzzle (LIT-035), and the mutualistic account of fairness (LIT-508).

Alternatives

• Leave both under existing words. social-science would hold the social-identity cluster beside economics and sociology, where nobody could find it. The altruism works would scatter across moral-psychology, motivation, natural-sciences and personhood, with no single place for the owner’s question.
• Fold social-identity into social-ontology. That word’s blurb is philosophy’s question: what groups and institutions are. The readings are psychology’s: when and why people act as members. They cite each other (Salice and Miyazono; León), and the two words can sit side by side.
• Name the second word egoism, or selflessness. Either would prejudge the owner’s question. altruism names the phenomenon in dispute, and the label “Altruism and self-interest” names both sides.
• One word, group-psychology, for both. The altruism question arises equally for a single helper and a single beneficiary (Batson’s experiments). It is not a group question.

Consequences

• The vocabulary gains two words that the owner can rename. A rename is a decision that supersedes this one.
• Seven merged works and one THEORY take a version bump for the added tag. The fandom LITs were already bumped in this contribution and record the tag in that entry.
• Future readings in either area start with a word. The owner’s thesis has a topic page that gathers its evidence and its objections.