Living together in areas of institutionalized racismo

Abstract

A racist attitude, either from the majority group or within the minority group, does not arise spontaneously. Like almost everything in the social field, the formation of group attitudes involves a process in which these attitudes are externalized by different forms and have different strength. In that process, the institutions play a key role in shaping of public opinion and, therefore, in social cohesion. In addition, the institutions can be the instrument of containment or transmission of racism. The difference between this two roles consist in the fact that the first one involves a weak racism and the second one legitimates discourse which consequences for coexistence and security of the people can be devastating. According to the theory developed by Michel Wieviorka in his book The arena of racism, we try to analyze the sequence of incidents that started in November 2014 in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. In this respect, we try to identify the different levels described by the author by analyzing eight focus groups conducted in the Basque capital.