Book Review

Student Name - Sujas Kumar

Department - Undergraduate (UG)

Entry Number - 2022CE11047

Semester - 2025-26 I (Odd)

Course - Social Psychology (HUL707)

Course Instructor - Purnima Singh

Institute - Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India

Book Title - The Social Psychology of Trauma: Connecting the Personal & the Political

Author - Orla T. Muldoon

Publisher - Cambridge University Press, 2024

Price - Open Access

Author Introduction -

Orla Therese Muldoon is an Irish social and political psychologist and professor of psychology as well as head of the department at The Queen’s University Belfast. Her research primarily focuses on how group memberships and social identities impact health and well-being.

Her research examines how group memberships and social identities shape health, well-being, and political attitudes. She is a core developer of the social-identity approach to trauma — often framed as the Social Identity Model of Traumatic/Identity Change — which links changes in group membership and identity to divergent trajectories after traumatic events (including vulnerability to post-traumatic stress or pathways to recovery and collective action).

Based in Ireland, she has done extensive studies on the impact of war on Northern Ireland on children, the impact of domestic violence, brain injury and sexual violence & their impact on the social identity of a person, as well as Post Traumatic Stress related to it which she has extensively discussed in the text.

She has made major contributions to the debates regarding Ireland’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic & the neglect Ireland has shown towards diversity, especially the minorities.

She is a regular opinion contributor to The Irish Times & has published numerous articles and research theories regarding trauma and its impact on the daily life of an individual and a group.

From the text she has written herself, it would not be wrong to say that she herself has faced a lot of tragedies in life, such as wartime and losing close ones, which have impacted her to the extent of pushing her into depression. Therefore, as a person who has experienced traumas and depression from such closeness, her work feels very natural & authentic.

Introduction -

Trauma & Depression have always been an integral part of human nature, which shapes us & reforms our social identity multiple times in our lives.

For a very long period of time, trauma has been studied and viewed from an individualistic point of view, as they are deeply personal, which makes sense. However, in reality, traumas are not completely personal.

Recent research has shown that trauma is not entirely personal, as it has some social and political factors associated with it. Traumas exhibit certain patterns that can help us predict them to some extent and potentially guide more effective interventions.

“Social Imagination”, a term coined by C. Wright Mills (An American Sociologist) in his book “The Sociological Imagination”, first published in 1959, refers to the concept of connecting personal experiences to a broader viewpoint & larger structures of society & connecting both to get to the root of an issue.

For instance, one might feel depressed or lacking if he/she is unable to find a job, but if one looks at it from a broader perspective, approximately 3.2% of the working population of India was unemployed (PLFS Annual Report, 2023-24), meaning millions of people. It helps us to understand that the root cause need not necessarily lie in the individual but in the social structure itself.

This book is a perfect implementation of this concept, as it links the personal traumas of a person to a broader perspective and the larger social and political structures of society to understand the root cause of trauma.

Summary of Arguments & Content-

The Author defines Trauma as any personal experience which shakes a person’s personal beliefs & makes an individual question things which they may have taken for granted.

Life-threatening experiences, Physical violence, Intentional acts of Violence or Betrayal from a trusted one are some events which are very likely to traumatise someone, but the author emphasises that just the event alone doesn’t decide whether an event will traumatise someone or not.

She highlights the fact that there are several social factors associated with trauma, as it isn’t just the action in itself that is traumatic, but the person committing the action, our social relationships with them, the social group we have & other such social factors that actually decide whether an incident will be traumatic for an individual or not.

She calls Trauma “Corrosive” in nature, as it can be easily shared with someone who shares social identities with you. For Instance, a woman is more likely to get secondary trauma hearing the news of domestic violence against a woman than a man because she shares the social identity of a woman with the victim.

The Author makes an argument that a person can undergo downward Social Mobility due to Post-traumatic stress, whereas sometimes it's possible for someone to see Growth, also called Post-traumatic growth. The effect of trauma is different in children and Adults. Increased use of Drugs & Alcoholic Substances is also a side effect of Trauma, which the Author states.

The Author explains that Traumatic Events are “Patterned” instead of being completely “Random”, such as Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Poverty, Gender, etc.

She connects Trauma to Social Identity, as it's often seen that a person who has suffered trauma gains a new social identity as the survivor, victim, or activist of that event. This Identity opens up new doors of political relations for an individual and can help them grow or bounce back from trauma, such as the survivors of the 2008 Mumbai Attacks or Refugees, etc.

At the same time, these events can disconnect someone from their pre-existing social groups and devalue their one or many previous social identities.

These Social Identities play a major role in the recovery of a person from any traumatic event, as the Author makes the argument of “Misery Loves Company”, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

Since Social Identity Theory states that one’s social identities & group memberships define how they see themselves, and trauma can change these social identities, it can indirectly change how they see themselves too drastically. Therefore, the more social identities & group memberships we have, the less the effects of a traumatic event on us.

From a political point of view, Trauma can change the categorisation of the ingroup and the outgroup too for an individual, since, as per Self Categorisation Theory, shared traits and experiences play a major role in this categorisation, and traumatic events can make one feel isolated. For Instance, A child might not feel like a part of his/her classmates if he/she suffers from child abuse, as it makes it hard for that child to relate to their peers.

According to the Author, Social Identity is a double-edged sword; on one side, it can provide comfort to an individual in his low time and at the same time, it can act as a trigger to a past event.

She states that the more salience an identity has, the more the chances of it controlling an individual’s actions have, making the person’s actions identity-driven.

The Author explains how the concept of Identity Threat is more prominent in Salient Identities.

The more salient identities you share with an individual, the more likely you are to be affected.

This phenomenon can be exploited by politicians to manipulate people by purposefully saliencing certain identities of groups & individuals to artificially generate a sense of identity threat to control actions of the masses.

Along with Identity Threat, The Author explains how the Zero-Sum Mentality fuels the fire by creating fake Polar-Opposite Scenarios, urging an individual to take action to protect themselves or harm others, increasing the hostility among the masses and giving rise to concepts such as minority-majority.

The Author explains how Social identities generated by trauma, on one side, can create a sense of belonging, resilience and strength, while they can also be used to justify violence in the pretext of Identity threat or Past Experiences.

The Author discusses how Trauma can change the Social Identities of an Individual, whether for good or bad, but it has a lot of political outcomes which we can’t undermine.

Strength -

One of the greatest strengths of The Social Psychology of Trauma is its ability to bridge the gap between the personal and the political. Rather than treating trauma purely as an individual clinical issue, The Author situates it within wider social, cultural, and political contexts, making it relevant not only to psychologists but also to sociologists, policymakers, and anyone interested in public health.

Another strength is the clarity of her arguments. The Author successfully explains complex theories such as Social Identity Theory, Self-Categorisation Theory, and the Social Identity Model of Traumatic Identity Change in a way that is accessible without losing academic rigour. She provides real-world examples — from the Northern Ireland conflict to domestic violence and even the COVID-19 pandemic — that ground the theory in lived experiences.

The book also shines in highlighting the dual nature of social identity: it can serve as both a protective factor that fosters resilience and a risk factor that fuels hostility and division. This nuanced approach avoids oversimplification and acknowledges the complexities of human behaviour in traumatic contexts.

Finally, a major strength lies in the interdisciplinary reach of the text. By integrating insights from psychology, sociology, and political science, She provides a framework that is rich, comprehensive, and highly applicable to both research and practice. The book encourages readers to think critically about trauma not just as an event but as a socially patterned phenomenon, influenced by identity, power, and inequality.

Weakness -

Although The Social Psychology of Trauma is rich in insight and theoretical framing, a few limitations can be observed.

To begin with, while the book does provide numerous examples and illustrations, many of them are either drawn from her personal experiences or from the context of Ireland and its socio-political conflicts. This makes the arguments vivid and authentic, but at the same time may limit the universality of application, as readers from other regions or cultural settings may not immediately connect with the same depth.

Secondly, the book places a strong emphasis on diagnosing and theorising trauma — explaining its patterns, its social nature, and its political implications. However, it offers comparatively fewer concrete solutions or practical strategies for intervention. Clinicians, policymakers, or community workers might find the framework valuable for understanding trauma, but may look for more actionable guidance on how to address it in practice.

Thirdly, the book is highly theory-driven. The Author places a strong emphasis on theoretical models such as Social Identity Theory, Self-Categorisation Theory, and the Social Identity Model of Traumatic Identity Change. While this is a strength for academic readers, it may feel dense or overwhelming for those without a background in social psychology. At times, the depth of theoretical discussion risks overshadowing more accessible narratives or practical takeaways.

Finally, the focus on identity-based explanations, while powerful, sometimes overshadows other psychological or biological perspectives, which could have complemented the analysis and provided a more multidimensional view of trauma.

Conclusion -

The Social Psychology of Trauma: Connecting the Personal & the Political is an important contribution to the study of trauma, precisely because it refuses to reduce traumatic experiences to purely individual or clinical terms. Orla Muldoon compellingly demonstrates that trauma is not just a private wound but also a socially patterned phenomenon, deeply tied to identity, power, and politics. By foregrounding the role of social identities and collective belonging, the book encourages us to rethink trauma as both a personal disruption and a political opportunity — one that can either fragment communities or foster resilience and solidarity.

While the heavy theoretical framing and focus on Irish contexts may narrow accessibility for some readers, the book succeeds in opening up a much-needed conversation about how trauma shapes not only individuals but also groups, institutions, and societies. It highlights how identity can act as both a shield and a weapon, offering healing in some contexts while, in other cases, justifying hostility..

In sum, her work provides a powerful lens for understanding the complexities of trauma, reminding us that recovery and meaning-making are inseparable from the social and political environments in which we live. For students of social psychology, policymakers, and anyone seeking to connect personal suffering to wider systems of inequality and power, this text is both timely and thought-provoking.

Personally, I found the book thought-provoking because it pushed me to see trauma not only as an individual burden but also as something that is socially constructed and patterned. The connection between identity and trauma, especially the idea that social groups can either amplify suffering or enable recovery, felt particularly relevant in today’s world, where issues of community, belonging, and division are so visible. Although I would have appreciated more practical insights on solutions, I believe the strength of this text lies in changing the way we think about trauma itself — from a private pain to a collective challenge.

On a personal level, as a student, I am deeply grateful to Orla Muldoon for writing this insightful work. Engaging with this book has significantly changed my perspective on trauma. It has helped me better recognise and make sense of certain personal experiences that I had previously found confusing. By situating trauma within broader social and political contexts, the book provided me with a clearer understanding of why such experiences occur and how they shape one’s identity. In this sense, it not only enriched my academic learning but also offered me valuable personal reflections on some of the more difficult moments in my own life.

Overall, The Social Psychology of Trauma is not just a book about trauma but a framework for re-imagining how personal suffering, identity, and politics are inseparably intertwined.