Basque Ethnic Identity and Collective Empowerment: Two Key Factors in Well-Being and Community Participation

Jon Zabala; Susana Conejero; Aitziber Pascual; Itziar Alonso-Arbiol; Alberto Amutio; Barbara Torres-Gomez; Sonia Padoan De Luca; Saioa Telletxea

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.606316

Basque Ethnic Identity and Collective Empowerment: Two Key Factors in Well-Being and Community Participation

Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 23:11:606316. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.606316. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jon Zabala¹, Susana Conejero¹, Aitziber Pascual¹, Itziar Alonso-Arbiol², Alberto Amutio^{3

4}, Barbara Torres-Gomez², Sonia Padoan De Luca⁵, Saioa Telletxea⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Psychological Processes and Development, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
² Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
³ Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Labor Relations and Social Work, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain.
⁴ Universidad Andres Bello, Faculty of Education and Social Science, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
⁵ Departament of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
⁶ Faculty of Labor Relations and Social Work, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

Abstract

Social identity is a factor that is associated with well-being and community participation. Some studies have shown that ethnic identity goes along with empowerment, and that interaction between the two leads to greater indices of well-being and community participation. However, other works suggest a contextual circumstance (i.e., perceiving one's own group as a minority and/or being discriminated) may condition the nature of these relations. By means of a cross-sectional study, we analyzed the relations of social identification (or identity fusion) and collective psychological empowerment with personal well-being, social well-being and community participation in a sample of Basques. A total of 748 Basques participated (63.1% women; age M = 39.28; SD = 12.13). Individuals who were highly identified or fused with Basque speakers and who were highly empowered showed higher indices of well-being (both personal and social) and of community participation than non-fused individuals with low empowerment. The results also suggest that social identification (or identity fusion) offsets the negative effects of perceiving the group as a linguistic minority. Collective psychological empowerment proved to be an especially relevant factor that needs to continue to be explored.

Keywords: collective empowerment; collective identity; community participation; ethnic identity; identity fusion; perceived collective efficacy; personal well-being; social well-being.