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How do people construct a sense of identity these days? Are they shaped more by lifestyle than ethnicity, or more by politics than social class? How do people use their identity for good or bad? And how much does social exclusion impact on a person’s sense of self?

These are just a few of literally hundreds of questions being asked in Identities and Social Action, the broadest and most sustained research programme on the topic ever undertaken in the UK.

The programme is headed by OU Professor of Social Psychology Margaret Wetherell, who has been seconded to the Economic and Social Research Council for the entirety of the five-year initiative.

“Research on identity provides a window on social change,” said Professor Wetherell. “The UK is changing fast and identity is the key to many of the most significant developments. Who do we think we are? The answer determines the kinds of communities people build – who people argue with, distance themselves from, embrace, marginalise, include or exclude.

“The UK is one of the most multi-cultural societies in the world,” she added. “What can be done with this opportunity and this diversity and what can be learnt from experiences elsewhere?”

The programme was so popular that when the ESRC invited applications for research grants from the £4m funding, they received over 300 submissions. The 25 eventually commissioned all fitted at least one of four themes - Emerging Identity Trends, Community Cohesion and Social Conflict, Political and Civic Involvement and Social Exclusion.

The projects themselves, researched by academics from a total 33 British universities and other education institutions, include research covering such diverse groups as learning disabled people, former steel workers, immigrant children, families in poorer urban areas, prisoners, transsexuals and refugees. The OU itself is represented in two research projects, Professor Rachel Thompson and Dr Mary Kehily’s The Making of Modern Motherhoods and Professor Wendy Hollway and Professor Ann Phoenix’s Becoming Bangladeshi, African Caribbean and White Mothers.

“An entire programme such as this, where everything comes under one umbrella, can make more of a difference and have more impact than individual projects,” said Professor Wetherell. “It is my job to make sure that the research is of the highest intellectual quality and to take the lead in presenting the findings to policy makers and other interested parties.

“We are already linking up with user groups, charities, the Home Office, the Social Exclusion Unit and other groups. It’s important that they are aware of our work,” she added. “It is our aim that the data gathered in such an extensive piece of research will feed into social policy.”

For further details about the Programme visit http://www.identities.org.uk