Doctoral Dissertation Research: Citizenship in Action: The Construction of Working-Class Political Identity in Three Spanish Cities, 1898-1923

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

In the quarter of a century framed by Spain's 1898 loss of its last overseas colonial possessions and the 1923 coup initiating the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, Spanish cities were sites of intense struggle over political identity. On city streets, republicans, socialists, and anarchosyndicalists competed for support, with different outcomes across cities. This project ia a comparative study of the construction of working-class political identity in Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante that seeks to explain why cities within the same national context had very different patterns of working-class political affiliation during this era, and specifically why the radical anarchosyndicalist movement was much more successful in some cities than in others. The dissertation challenges existing theories concerning the determinants of political identity, developing a new theoretical approach which emphasizes the importance of forms of urban political practice in the construction of political citizenship, and by extension in the construction and consolidation of national states. Hypotheses will be tested through historical-comparative analysis of the development of forms of political action in these three cities throughout the 25-year period. The primary data source will be periodicals, located in specialized archives in each locality and at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; additional evidence will be obtained from local administrative archives. This project's broader impacts include: The dissertation contributes to theoretical development in the area of identity-formation by drawing upon a neglected empirical case to produce an original theoretical framework with broader implications for understanding both historical processes and contemporary phenomena, including the relationship of radical movements to urban protest in the Middle East and Latin America, and, more broadly, the legitimization of the state versus alternative political forms. The public presentation of evidence in the form of a photographic exhibit, documenting the political participation of women and other underrepresented groups, will contribute to the broader dissemination of sociological research and theory.