Change in National Identification a study of the Catalan case

Resumen

This dissertation focuses on the study of individual change in national identification and examines the factors which lie behind change under particular circumstances. The dissertation starts proposing a conceptual and analytical framework for the study of change along different dimensions of identification (self-categorization, content, salience and intensity). From here, the dissertation focuses on the study of change in the category of national identification in the Catalan context. The Catalan context is argued to be a suitable case study because it has two characteristics which render change in the category of national identification possible. These two characteristics are a center-periphery cleavage and the presence of a demographically important immigration population. The findings of my research are thus generalizable to other contexts which share these two characteristics with Catalonia. The dissertation offers an alternative explanation which complements the decentralization argument, and provides a better account for the periodic changes that are observed when identification with Spain and Catalonia is tracked over time. The dissertation contends that political parties¿ mobilization of the center-periphery cleavage drives individual change in national identification. Although the cleavage structures competition between political parties in a permanent way, there are some periods during which a particular policy or issue sharpens conflict between national and regional parties and exacerbates the cleavage. Individuals react to this conflict by updating their national identification. When individual changes occur in the same direction (or the changes which occur in one direction exceed the changes which occur in the other direction) and when they are numerically important, then individual change has large scale consequences on the aggregate. This argument is tested making use of longitudinal cross-sectional data from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas and panel data from the Fundació Jaume Bofill. The empirical analyses show that higher levels of political confrontation have fostered the polarization of the feelings of attachment with Spain and Catalonia of the autochthonous population and second generations over the years. These analyses also show that dual identifiers¿ exposure to Catalan public broadcasters makes individuals more prone to switch their identification towards a more Catalan oriented identification in periods in which the levels of political confrontation along the cleavage are high. The mechanism linking the mobilization of the center-periphery cleavage and individual change is illustrated with qualitative evidence from a number of semi-structured interviews. Individuals¿ perception that their group identity is being attacked provokes a reaction which is contingent on individuals¿ prior identification. When individuals feel exclusively Spanish or exclusively Catalan, they react reaffirming these identifications. Conversely, when individuals identify with both Spain and Catalonia, they prioritize their identification with the group they perceive is being mistreated and weaken their identification with the elite group making the negative-framed claim. In this way, confrontation has a polarizing effect on individuals¿ identification. In addition to this, my dissertation examines the nationalizing role of parents and school. Contrary to what previous research has argued, my analyses of the Fundació Jaume Bofill household data show that the alleged influence exerted by the educational system over individual national identification is more limited than thought. The dissertation exploits variation in parents¿ identification with Spain and Catalonia to tease out these two agents¿ impact. I show that the omission of relevant family background variables have led to an overestimation of the influence of school. The results of my research show that even though years of schooling can increase the chances that children of immigrants develop a bi-national identification, parents¿ attachment to Catalonia is the key element that fosters a Catalan oriented identification. Other family characteristics, such as the immigrants¿ family economic performance or immigrant families¿ self-selection into neighborhoods in which the share of natives is above a certain threshold are decisive elements in promoting children of immigrants¿ identification with Catalonia.