Making "Us" matter: Social identity, leadership, and collective agency

The key contribution of this chapter is to advance insights into how group processes, leadership, and social influence underpin "mattering." Two areas related to social identity processes are the foci in this chapter: (1) feelings of validation and certainty (that "we" are right) and (2) collective agency and action to advance "our" group's causes and goals. Both of these contribute to a sense of empowerment and significance and mattering in the world connected to individuals' psychology as group members (the collective and not only individual self). In conclusion, it is recognized that there are contests of influence amongst leadership as they attempting to craft certain definitions of "who we are" (e.g., Trump vs Biden/Harris) and to make "us" matter. How and when this happens through outgroup derogation and hate or a more inclusive agenda is highlighted as a direction for future research.