Seeing Both Sides: Democratic Conflict and Identity Change in Multicultural States

This study investigates how inter-group democratic conflict shapes ethnic identification and offers a socio-psychological account of identity change in multicultural societies, in which citizens can identify with a regional ethnic minority and with the larger national group to varying degrees. We claim that democratic conflict between the center and the periphery polarizes ethnic identities, but the effects of conflict are conditional on pre-existing identities. Citizens with a weak previous identification with the out-group adopt more exclusive identities following confrontation. This reactive change is mediated by emotions such as anger. Among citizens with dual identities, on the contrary, conflict does not produce changes in identity but leads to disengagement and growing distance from politics. The study tests the theory in Catalonia, a region of Spain in which citizens identify as Spanish and Catalan to varying degrees, using data from two survey experiments, qualitative interviews, and survey data. The experimental results show that democratic conflict can cause the identities of citizens at the extremes to grow further apart. Citizens with preexisting dual identities, however, are sheltered from the polarizing effects of the dynamics of conflict. Further analyses offer evidence consistent with the claim that reactions are heterogeneous and emotions are relevant mechanisms in identity change.