Las actitudes del racismo y las relaciones de convivencia intergrupalesel caso de Torre-Pacheco (Murcia)

Resumen

In Spain, the majority attitudes of the native population towards the immigrant population have been described as tolerant or ambivalent. The relations of coexistence between both social groups have been calm and peaceful, although distant. In this sense, until recent years, Spain has been characterized as an exception in the European context. Nevertheless, some qualitative studies reveal the presence of racist representations and discourses of varying intensity. This doctoral thesis proposes a qualitative approach to a case study (Torre-Pacheco, Murcia): the realization of eight interviews, eight life stories, four discussion groups, field observation and a subsequent sociological analysis. During the realization of the doctoral thesis, three objectives were met: 1. To characterize the formation and reproduction of racist attitudes in the case study, 2. To characterize the intergroup coexistence relations and 3. To find the factors that would explain the aforementioned Spanish exceptionality. As a result, we found representations about the immigrant population in at least four senses: representations as inferior people, different, without rights and as a threat. In the case study, the Moroccan population is the population that receives the most negative representations. These representations built on a sense of group position in which the Spanish population occupies a dominant position in the social field. Thus, the native population reproduces attitudes that try to preserve its prerogatives, so that the subaltern position of the immigrant population is maintained. Precisely, the persistence of this subordinate position (in the labour market, access to housing, education, health and resources) together with another series of factors (public policies, migrant remembrances, frequent contact), explains in part why intergroup relations remain in a state of distant coexistence, while at the same time no open expressions of racism and its political expression appeared up to the time of this research.