Resit Kislioglu

• This thesis is concerned with intergroup difference in the context of nationhood. One of the main aims of this thesis is to problematize certain taken-for-granted assumptions of intergroup relations research in social psychology. The research area of intergroup relations departs from a tacit acceptance of difference as a natural given. Differences between individuals and groups lie at the heart of fundamental concepts like prejudice, conflict or tolerance, and processes like identification or categorisation. In this thesis, I have attempted to develop an approach that incorporates both the consequences of differentiation and the contents of difference. In doing this, I have drawn upon a theoretical approach, social representations theory (Jovchelovitch, 2007; Marková, 2003; Moscovici, 1961/2008), which offers the resources to make sense of the consensual realities and the communication processes through which social knowledge is constructed, maintained and challenged. I have investigated representations of intergroup differences in the context of Turkish nationhood. This allowed me to explore the fluid nature of nationhood as a social category. Empirical studies and a conceptual study allowed me to show how different manifestations of the Turkish nationhood have been reproduced and contested. As such, this thesis has contributed to intergroup relations research through its emphasis on problematizing, contextualising and distinguishing contents of categories in relation to the fluid nature of boundary-making and differentiation. Such a focus might contribute towards a better conceptualisation of inclusivity, as clarification of taken-for-granted contents of categories are advocated. I hope to have emphasised the importance of deconstructing mechanistic understandings of intergroup relations and the need to construct a more organic conception of superordinate (inclusive) categories.j