That the Basque people have preserved their ethnic identity and sense of being a separate community, despite centuries of repression, diaspora, and economic and social upheaval, is one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of that phenomenon we call nationalism. ""The Social Roots of Basque Nationalism"" examines the processes that maintained and even intensified Basque nationalist political consciousness during the Franco years and the subsequent democratization of Spain. This work is based in part on a wide range of interviews and polls with informants in the Basque Country and abroad, eliciting such data as the role that family, education, and social and religious environment play in the evolution of political attitudes; the place of violence in the Basque world view and contemporary political culture; regional variations in Basque nationalism; and the factors that contributed to the resilience of Basque nationalism in adapting to new historical conditions. The result is a sophisticated discussion of the various ways in which Basque social reality is constituted and how this reality helps to create political culture.

Translated by: William A. Douglass