Vasque identity, collective empowerment and level of psychological well-being

Social identity is a factor related to property and community participation. Some studies have demonstrated the existing angle between social identity and empowerment and that the interaction between both makes the indexes of welfare and communion participation more important. Without embarrassment, the nature of these relationships can be conditioned by the fact that the person pertains to his or her own group as a minority and / or a discriminated group. Hecho, these relations are mainly in collectives that are located in a minority situation and / or discrimination, but not in more hegemonic collectives or municipalities.

To advance in this thesis, Jon Zabala, member of the Consolidated Culture, Cognition and Emotion Research Group of the Faculty of Psychology at the University of País Vasco (UPV / EHU), conducted a transversal study to analyze the relationship the fusion of identities) and the collective psychological empowerment with the personal, social welfare and the communal participation of 748 vascos and vascas.

Zabala explained, “we see that the people who are identified with the merged with the vases (or vascoparlants) and have a high degree of empowerment must have indexes of personal and social welfare and participation in communion; hecho, muestran indexes more high that the people are not merged and with low degree of empowerment ”. On the other hand, the results of the investigation suggest that “social identification balances the negative aspects that pertain to the group as a linguistic minority”, the author affirms. Además, “hemos detected that in order to benefit the persons who consider the condition of euskaldun as a minority in his entourage, as in cities or places where the euskera is most fragile, it is most important to feel identified with the vascos”.

According to the investigator, the advances recorded in the cultural aspect, and especially in the linguistic aspect, are clearly coherent with the perception of the power of the collective to change society and align its goals. Without embarrassment, “we will find some indications of vulnerability, such as the fragile situation of euskera and some concrete indicators of linguistic discrimination in some situations, which can be considered as an arrangement for the survival of euskera, and.

Jon Zabala. (Photo: UPV / EHU)

According to the theory of social identity, “when a collective is a minority and receives relevant information that attains to its identity, the identity is active and can initiate empowerment processes — the investigator of the Faculty of Psychology said. It is possible that, given the good socio-economic position in general of this social group and of the logos established in the language, the conscience of being a linguistic minority all the way around in the context of the País Vasco population, contributes to the identification of the degree of identification merged with the euskaldunes and, in particular, the empowerment act as particularly important factors for the benefit ”.

Investigators have identified a strong link between collective empowerment and well-being: “We have learned that a social factor such as this is a close relationship with the personal well-being — the Zabala company—. The collective psychological empowerment has a very important factor and we must continue to investigate ”. The characteristics of the collective investigated its habitats in comparison with the numerous investigations that have been carried out in recent times on this matter (although all have studied the ethnic identity of African Americans). For this reason, investigators claim that this work is useful for other investigations that take place in this world-level camp.

The study, entitled “Basque Ethnic Identity and Collective Empowerment: Two Key Factors in Well-Being and Community Participation”, was published in the academic journal Frontiers in Psychology. The research was carried out under the auspices of Jon Zabala’s doctoral thesis in the Culture, Cognition and Emotion Research Group of the Faculty of Psychology of the UPV / EHU, as well as the direction of professors Aitziber Pascual Jimeno and Susana Conejero Lone. In the record of dates he was acquainted with the collaboration of AEK. The study was carried out with the help of the pre-doctoral program of the Department of Education of Gobierno Vasco. (Source: UPV / EHU)