Instituto Juan March Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales (CEACS) Juan March Institute Center for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (CEACS) Changes in National Identification. The Case of Catalonia Author(s): Hierro Hernández, María José Year: 2013 Type Thesis (doctoral) University: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid City: Madrid Number of pages: 479 Abstract: This dissertation focuses on the study of individual change in national identification and examines the factors that lie behind change in contexts with a center-periphery cleavage. 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). It demarcates as well the structural and individual circumstances that make possible the occurrence of change. 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 that render change in the category of national identification possible. These two characteristics are: a repertoire of nations, which derives from the existence of a centerperiphery cleavage, and an immigrant population susceptible to experience a process of identification assimilation. The findings of my research are thus generalizable to other contexts that share these two characteristics with Catalonia. The dissertation offers an alternative explanation that complements the decentralization argument, and provides a better account for the fluctuations that are observed when identification with Spain and Catalonia is tracked over time. The dissertation contends that political parties’ activation 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 are numerically important, then they have large-scale consequences on the aggregate. This explanation is tested making use of longitudinal crosssectional 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 them 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 activation 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 that 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 previously 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 has 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. Your use of the CEACS Repository indicates your acceptance of individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any document(s) only for academic research and teaching purposes. Esta obra se presentó como tesis doctoral en el Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, el 13 de septiembre de 2012. El Tribunal estuvo compuesto por los profesores doctores Juan Díez Medrano, Santiago Pérez- Nievas Montiel, Clara Riba Romeva, Eva Anduiza Perea, e Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca. María José Hierro Hernández (Salamanca, 1978) es licenciada en Sociología por la Universidad de Salamanca y en Ciencias Políticas y de la Administración por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Formó parte de la decimoctava promoción de estudiantes del Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales del Instituto Juan March de Estudios e Investigaciones, donde obtuvo el título de Máster en 2007. En el propio Centro elaboró su tesis doctoral bajo la supervisión del Profesor José Ramón Montero Gibert. A Dídac, perquè vaig començar aquest camí amb tu i vas ser el meu suport durant tot aquest temps CONTENTS List of Tables................................................................................................ vi List of Figures .............................................................................................. xi Abstract ........................................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgments........................................................................................ xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 1.2. Why studying change in national identification is worthy? ................. 6 1.3. State of the art....................................................................................... 8 1.3.1. Classical approaches to the study of nationalism and national identity........................................................................ 9 1.3.2. A different outlook in the study of nationalism and national identity........................................................................ 13 1.3.3. Previous research on change in national identification ............ 16 1.4. Catalonia as case study......................................................................... 20 1.4.1. The center-periphery cleavage ................................................. 24 1.4.2. The presence of a population susceptible to change its identification............................................................................. 34 1.5. Theoretical and Methodological Contribution ..................................... 42 1.5.1. Theoretical contribution ........................................................... 42 1.5.2. Methodological contribution .................................................... 44 1.6. Research Strategy ................................................................................. 46 1.6.1. A case study analysis................................................................ 46 1.6.2. Operationalization of the dependent variable........................... 47 1.6.2.1. A measurement for national identification................. 48 1.6.2.2. Operationalization of national identification change......................................................................... 50 1.6.3. Methodology and data .............................................................. 52 1.6.3.1. Data ............................................................................ 53 1.6.3.2. Overview of the quantitative methodology................ 54 1.6.3.3. Overview of the qualitative methodology.................. 56 1.7. A macro to micro analysis of change ................................................... 57 1.8. Plan of the dissertation ......................................................................... 59 i CHAPTER 2. AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY OF CHANGE IN NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION ..................... 65 2.1. Introduction.......................................................................................... 65 2.2. From ethnicity to national identification ............................................. 68 2.2.1. Ethnicity and ethnic identity..................................................... 68 2.2.2. Identification along ethnic/national lines must not be taken from granted...................................................................