Fused identity and its relationship with ethnic and national identities in the Jewish community of Lima, Peru

This study explores the relationship between identity fusion and the strength of ethnic and national identification in members of Lima’s Jewish community. A set of questionnaires measuring levels of ethnic identification, national identification, and identity fusion were administered to 100 members of the Jewish community in Lima. The results showed that fused members of the Jewish community identified significantly more strongly with the Jewish community and the national categories than did their non-fused peers. However, despite stronger levels of national identification, fused members of the Jewish community also expressed a significantly higher preference for maintaining social distance towards non-Jewish Peruvians than did non-fused members, but only on matters relating to the immediate family such as marriage and having children. Furthermore, results showed fused members of the Jewish community tend to extol positive attributes of the Jewish ethnic category when comparing with the Peruvian national category. Discussion is focused on how a fused identity can provide the psychological security required to express more positive relations not only with the fusion category but also with other relevant non-threatening social categories, and how identity fusion can contribute to the establishment and maintenance of social distancing from ethnic out-groups as a function of characteristic in-group preservation.