Group Processes & Social Inclusion Research Theme

The members of the Group Processes and Social Inclusion theme in the UCD School of Psychology have a range of diverse research programmes with common concerns: how individuals’ life outcomes are shaped by social categories, which may be chosen or assigned based on their behaviour, bodies, or biographies. Using a range of innovative quantitative and qualitative methodologies, our research explores the relations between groups defined by gender, nationality, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, criminality, disability, psychiatric diagnosis, and physical illness. Our objectives are twofold: (a) to explore the social psychological factors that contribute to the marginalisation of certain social categories, and (b) to examine how members of marginalised groups, in turn, shape those categories and the societies around them. Ultimately, we aim to promote social inclusion by confronting the social and psychological barriers that impede certain groups from fully and equally accessing their fair share of social, cultural, and economic resources.