Summary: Intergroup Communication In Spain

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Intergroup communication in Spain focuses mainly on the interactions between the Spanish State and the coexisting national minorities. Spain is a state divided into autonomous communities, three of which - Galicia, Basque Country and Catalonia - are denominated historical communities, having each one its own language, that coexists co-officially with Castilian, the official language in all the State. Because national identities are not fixed but mutable in the face of political, economic and social circumstances, the dynamics established between Spain and these historical communities is a very recurrent theme of study and analysis. However, research conducted from the perspective of intergroup communication is very scarce. The mutability of national identities is explicitly stated in an alarming way in the current highly conflictive intergroup communication between the Spanish State and Catalonia. This Autonomous Community has gone from a cultural claim in the nineteenth century to a pact-based ethnopolitical vindication from the 1980s until the beginning of the 21st century. However, the Spanish state, from its stance of an unique and essentialist nation, is facing today a Catalonia that claims recognition as a nation and a strong self-government. These demands have led to a strong polarization between the parties to such an extent that the …show more content…

Keywords: Spain, Catalonia, intergroup conflict, identity management strategies, intergroup relations, ethnolinguistic vitality

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