Untitled - socium.ge

The network society in Catalonia 241low level of political participation in Catalonia as everywhere else. True, thereis a mobilized minority (for example, anti-globalization militants) for whomthe Internet is very important, but this is only a fraction of the population.The specificity of Internet use in Catalonia underscores the specificity ofCatalan society. The use of the Internet for sociability is not widespreadbecause face-to-face sociability is very intense and facilitated by a stronglocalization of family and friendship ties in the territorial vicinity. Workrelatedactivities are limited, except for students and professionals, becauseuse of the Internet in the business world is not extended to the majority of theworkforce. The potential demand for the facility to manage public services onthe Internet is frustrated by the lack of a sufficient offer of online services fromthe public sector.In sum, the uses of the Internet, and their social structuration by the characteristicsof Internet users, reflect, at the same time, the values and practicesof people in their lives and the organizational and cultural framework thatcharacterizes Catalonia in contrast to other societies.CULTURAL IDENTITY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OFMEANING IN THE INTERNETOne of the most debated themes in international research is the potential valueof the Internet as a medium for the expression of cultural identity (Castells,2001). Catalonia offers a particularly interesting field of study becausenational identity (in contrast to the dominant officialdom of Spain) is anentrenched feature of Catalan society, a society that has preserved its ownlanguage and culture throughout history in spite of suffering centuries oflinguistic and cultural repression from the Spanish government, at leastbetween 1714 and 1980. Therefore, we studied the current expression of identityin Catalan society in order to assess the specific role of the Internet in theconstruction and development of this identity.However, we differentiated multiple dimensions of identity and tried toassess the relative weight of national identity as a source of cultural meaning.Indeed, according to our data, when people are confronted with a choice ofself-definition in terms of national-cultural belonging, only 19.7 percent feelpredominantly Spanish, whereas 37.5 percent feel predominantly Catalan,with 36.2 percent feeling equally Catalan and Spanish, and 6.6 percent who donot feel either Catalan or Spanish. But this predominant feeling of beingCatalan, or as much Catalan as Spanish, does not become the primary sourceof construction of meaning for people. We asked our sample to opt for oneprimary identity from a long, detailed list of possibilities. The majority ofpeople (56 percent) identified themselves primarily with their family. A long