Summaries*
Klaus-Jürgen Nagel
The»multicultural society« and state interventionist policy in the city of Barcelona between the 1888 and 1929 World Exhibitions
»Multicultural society«, a term which originated in England, is an inadequate description of the complex co-existence of different cultures in Barcelona in the years 1888 to 1929. On the one hand, the public domain was no longer completely dominated by Spanish culture. Onthe other hand, the private domain was undergoing an opposing process: at least until massive immigration started during World War I, Spanish native speakers were swiftly integrated into their Catalan surroundings and after 1918 the danger of ghettos forming only increased slowly. Contacts between the largely proletarian newcomers and Catalans of various social strata were facilitated by several factors: Barcelona’s economic structure was marked by many small and medium-sized businesses, the class barriers surrounding the proletariat were weak for a long time, and most city quarters were socially heterogenous. Professional and leisure organizations enlivened Catalan»civil society«, there was no really separate proletarian counter-culture, and labour unions kept their distance from the national question. This explains the marked presence of Catalan ideological elements among many workers. However, this presence was only made possible by the failure of the interventionist policy of the state. Neither the implementation of universal compulsory schooling and military service nor the social welfare and housing benefit policies were successful enough to encourage local loyalty to the state. In Catalonia, representatives of the state were not the factory inspectors, the mediators in labour conflicts or the teachers, but the captain-general and the civil governor.
Ludger Mees
The Basque Labyrinth Social historical implications, cultural environment and political articulation of Basque nationalism 1876-1937
The terms»labyrinth« has been used on various occasions to describe the Basque region, its . history and politics due to the region’s inscrutable complexity. Without denying the current, often extremely complicated problems in the field of culture, politics and economics,
* Die Zusammenfassungen aller Aufsätze wurden von Mitarbeitern der Firma Bonnscript ins Englische übersetzt.