Is there more assimilation in Catalonia than in the Basque Country? Analysing dynamics of assimilation in nationalist contexts

Bibliographic Data

ID6257657
AuthorsLuis De La Calle (0000-0003-2099-4746, Fundación Juan March, corresponding author), Thomas Jeffrey Miley (0000-0003-4360-7446, Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales)
Year2008
Volume47
Issue6
Pages710-736
Publication date2008-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Political Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-4130 • E-ISSN: 1475-6765
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-6765.2008.00776.x
OpenAlexW2169871987
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited35

This article builds on recent attempts in political science to illuminate the ‘micro‐level’ mechanisms of identity formation. It analyses the dynamics of assimilation in two similar contexts with extremely salient regional‐nationalist movements: Catalonia and the Basque Country. It poses the question: In which of the two regions has there been more assimilation of demographically significant, internal‐immigrant segments of the population? It tests whether there has been more assimilation in Catalonia – a result expected from the allegedly more ‘civic’ nature of the nationalist movement there. To do so, it draws on and goes beyond the tools provided by David Laitin for operationalising assimilation. It uses existing public opinion surveys to construct and present assimilation indices for both regions. The authors show that though rates of ‘linguistic adaptation’ are higher in Catalonia, such adaptation correlates weakly with assimilation into feelings of subjective identification and the espousal of nationalist views and aspirations more generally. The article goes on to demonstrate that rates of assimilation, when measured using several more robust proxies for the feeling of national identity, are actually lower in Catalonia. The authors then proceed to provide a theoretical explanation for their surprising empirical results. The explanation stresses the causal role of institutional pressures – themselves the product of nationalist coalition‐building strategies – in accounting for patterns of linguistic adaptation and of cultural assimilation. Furthermore, it emphasises the relevance of ‘cultural demography’, particularly among natives/insiders, in accounting for the different nationalist strategies and the different intensity as well as different types of institutional pressures faced by immigrants/outsiders in the two regions

Assimilation (phonology · Cultural assimilation · Feeling · Linguistics · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Population · Salient · Sociology · Demography · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Psychology · Social Psychology

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