What is social identity?
Social identity is the part of the self that comes from belonging to groups, units, teams, services, professions, families.
Sign in to save this readThe group is part of the self
Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner) shows that we do not just join groups, we internalise them. The values, norms and status of the group become part of how we see ourselves.
This is why losing a group (a unit, a team, a service) feels like losing a piece of who you are. It literally is.
Why it matters in transition
Transition often strips away the group before any new group is in place. Until belonging is restored, regulation and motivation are harder than they should be.
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Related research papers
- Identity in Occupational Transition: Evidence, Research and Future Directions for UK PolicyGardner, G. (2025). AURIS.
- Identity Performance Psychology | White Paper Vol. 2DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19818259
Continue exploring related research
Further reading from the Knowledge Hub on the same themes.
- Psychology · 1 min readBelonging
Belonging is a physiological resource. Without it, regulation and recovery are harder. With it, they become possible.
- Psychology · 1 min readRole Exit
Role exit is the structured process of leaving a role that has shaped the self. It has predictable stages and predictable risks.
- Psychology · 1 min readSelf-Concept
Self-concept is the organised set of beliefs you hold about yourself. It is updateable, and that is the work of transition.
- Research · 6 min readI didn't start researching identity. I started trying to help people.
A first person account of how a medical discharge in 2014, a self funded CIC in 2015 and a woodworking project in Liverpool in 2017 turned into the questions now being asked through Identity After the Uniform.
- Research · 4 min readThe Identity Gap in Service Leaver Support: Why It Matters
Practical resettlement support is comprehensive, yet our review of UK transition guidance found very little explicit discussion of identity as a psychological process. This article explains what we examined, what we found, and where identity adaptation fits alongside existing support.
Identity After the Uniform
Related research
Published records from the research programme behind this article.
- White Papers · 2 min readWhite Paper 0, From Transition to Service Provider Identity Adaptation
A conceptual position paper reframing the Identity After the Uniform research programme: transition is the trigger, but the phenomenon under study is identity adaptation after a trained, high-pressure service role.
- White Papers · 1 min readIdentity After the Uniform
Emerging findings from the first stage of the Identity After the Uniform research programme, a qualitative study of identity reconstruction after military service and other identity-defining roles.
- Foundations · 4 min readThe AURIS Connection Hub
A verified, worldwide directory of support organisations, events and opportunities, built into the AURIS Identity System because the research kept showing the same problem: the right support usually exists, it is just hard to find.
- Research · 6 min readState of the Evidence: What We Know, What We Don't, and Why This Research Is Needed
An audit of the AURIS Master Evidence Repository, conducted 30 August 2026, setting out plainly which evidence is solid, which is located but not yet fully verified, which has been downgraded, and which gaps remain open.
Gemma Gardner
Founder and Research Lead, AURIS Institute
Gemma Gardner leads the AURIS research programme on identity and occupational transition. Her work builds the evidence base behind the AURIS Identity System and the Identity System, drawing on interviews with service leavers, families and the organisations that support them.
- Lead author, Identity Performance Psychology white paper series
- Principal investigator, AURIS identity adaptation interview programme
- Author of AURIS submissions on identity in occupational transition
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Everything published here comes from the AURIS research programme. The AURIS Identity System, the separate membership platform at aurisidentity.com, is where the same framework is taught as guided courses and daily practice.
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