Beyond the borders: (in)stability of group dynamics and culture planning

Over the past few years, group dynamics have received considerable attention within different theoretical frameworks, namely social science disciplines such as psychology, biology, anthropology and economics, as well as cultural studies. Recent studies in social psychology have shown that the notion of «entitativity» – i.e. «the perceived unity» rather than the group’s actual unity – is central for describing and understanding group dynamics. These same studies have also revealed that «in-group entitativity» is associated with a higher level of identification, attribution of intentionality, and perceived security provided by the group itself. From the point of view of cultural studies, a question arises as to the possible role and contribution of cultural products – not only written texts of different kinds, but also figurative artworks – towards increasing in-group entitativity. In this paper the author argues that «culture planning», particularly by transforming «non-structured inventories into structured repertoires» (Even-Zohar), turns out to be a «perceptual cue» of in-group entitativity. The outcomes of this research will cast new light on the cultural products themselves, allowing for an in-depth revisitation of traditional interpretations.