Untitled - socium.ge

The network society in Catalonia 243a collective Catalan identity: an identity that was now acknowledged andinstitutionalized. The majority of people feel Catalan, and a substantialproportion feel different from being Spanish, but they do not have to assert itevery day because it is now accepted as a fact of life, although recent attacks(in 2003) on Catalan autonomy from the conservative government in Madridmay ignite resistance identity again. At the same time, since Catalan nationalism,in its diverse political expressions, did not articulate a collectiveproject, but dwelt instead on the defense of resistance identity as its politicalargument, people, and particularly young people, in their majority, did notfeel part of a nation on the move. Rather, they followed the example of otherEuropeans, constructing meaning from and for their own individual lives.Given the importance of family life in Catalonia, this actually meant rootingmeaning in the family as the way of asserting one’s meaning.However, we also investigated in our study the possibility of a projectidentity based on a strong feeling of Catalan identity. We constructed an indicatorof strong Catalan identity (based on uses of language, media preferences,and special sensitivity to Catalan nationalist themes). Only 19.4percent of the population could be associated with this strong Catalan identity.However, this identity is particularly intense in certain groups. It isconcentrated among professionals and executives of the middle age group.Furthermore, it is also strongly present in the 20–29-year age group for thoseindividuals who are politically active and socially entrepreneurial. This iswhere the role of the Internet becomes essential. We found a significant associationbetween strong Catalan identity and use of the Internet, and a relationshipbetween the group of young professionals, active users of theInternet, interested in individual and collective projects for themselves andfor society, and the presence of a strong Catalan identity. Thus, while Catalanresistance identity is mainly present in the older generations, particularly insmall towns and rural areas, Catalan project identity, a feature of a minorityof people, is concentrated in the upcoming professional class, which isspecially active on the Internet. Not that the Internet is the source of this identity,but it becomes a privileged medium for the expression of alternativeprojects of social organization, including the manifestation of a renewedCatalan identity as a collective national project adapted to the conditions ofthe twenty-first century. On the other hand, for the majority of the populationthe use of the Internet is predominantly in Spanish (with only 11 percent visitingwebsites in English), a direct consequence of the limited offer of Catalanlanguage websites on the Internet.We have also analyzed the role of the Internet in the construction of meaningin the framework of practices of communication with reference to othermedia. As in other societies, television is the predominant medium ofcommunication and the most important source of cultural influence, followed