On Collective Identity

Abstract

I argue that a number of persons form a "collective" when they share a "first person plural perspective." This perspective is shaped by a collective self-concept which, along with its causal history, uniquely identifies the collective. Collectives persist through changes in membership by maintaining this collective self-concept. Changes in the collective self-concept may be identity preserving, however, if they result from processes naturally flowing from the identity of the collective, which are appropriately caused by (or accepted by) the collective.