* Spainish social structure Society

* Spain itself is divided into 17 regions, each of which elect leaders in direct elections allowing for every region to have a level of autonomy. The Spanish constitution of 1978 protects the democratic independence for, “distinct and nationalities and regions” (Gale 2009b). Because of this, attempting to define the social structure, gender roles, family structure, social identity, and political structure for the entire country is a difficult task. Within Spain, there are six major cultures including the Castilians, the Galicians, the Basques, the Catalans, the Levante, and the Andalucians (Gale. 2009a) and other minority cultures include the Roma and the Asturians (Gale 2009b). Spaniards as a whole do share some cultural traits.

* Political Structure:

* The political structure of Spain at large is one of a parliamentary monarchy. The king, determined by hereditary, serves as the head of state, however, legislative powers are held within General Courts, or the Cortes Generales, which is spilt between the Congress of Deputies, the Congresso de los Diputados, and the Senate, or the Senado (Gale 2009b.). There are 350 deputies, all of which are elected by the people, and 259 senators, 208 are chosen by the people while 51 are decided by the regions of Spain. Spain, within their executive branch, holds the Council of Ministers which includes a president, a first, second, and third vice president who also serve as ministers for various fields (Global World Warrior 2010b). There is also a judicial branch that holds the Tribunal Supremo, or the Supreme Court.

* Within the 17 autonomous regions and two autonomous cities of Spain, there are also smaller, local governments in which an assembly is elected. Governors are chosen by the central government of Spain. Municipalities have a mayor, or an alcaide, and councilmen, or a concejales, who are brought into office by the people (Gale. 2009b). The voting age in Spain is the same as the age in the United States, 18 years old.

* In 1977, there were a total of 156 political parties in Spain. Today, there are three major political parties in Spain include the Popular Party, a right leaning centrist party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, a left leaning centrist party, and the United Left, a communist party. On the regional level, nationalist groups include; the Convergence and Union, a Catalan group, the Basque Nationalist Party, and the another Basque nationalist party, Euskal Herritarrok/Herri Batasuna, but one which is banned from politics due to ties to the terrorist group, the ETA (Gale 2000). The ETA, or the Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna-Basque Homeland and Freedom, is a separatist group which “has been responsible for 820 deaths” for a separate homeland for the Basque people (Gale 2009b).

* King Juan Carlos

* The current monarch over Spain is King Juan Carlos de Borbon y Borbon, the successor to Franco, helped bring Spain to become a democracy by signing the constitution of 1978 (Gale 2009b). The president of Spain is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. One vice president and the Minister of Regional Affairs is the Manuel Chaves Gonzalez. Another vice president is Elena Salgado Méndez, who also serves as the leader of the Goverment of Economic Affairs (La Moncloa 2011.)

* Social Identity:

* For everyone, parts of one's social identity, our perception of self from belonging to a group or multiple groups, comes from religion, education, the family, the economy, the government, one's ethnic background, our employment, and even hobbies. On a national level, a majority of Spaniards are Roman Catholic and speak Castilian, a language which is spoken in schools and courts. Many Spaniards also enjoy fútball (soccer) and attend sports clubs, such as the Barsa, in which “membership passes from father to son” (Gale 2009b). Though many share the previous social identity, many others within the regions differ from those in the majority and pride themselves in their own sense of self.

* In fact, some regions, including the Catalans and Basque, wish to be considered separate nations and pride themselves in being apart from Spain as a whole. Among the Catalans, one must be able to speak Catalan to be considered Catalan. Within the Basque region, there is a conflict occurring, as in other places in Spain and the world, between development and tradition. The Basque people face the influence of Spain, found in the draw of the city and the pervasion of Spanish, changing their identities as farmers who speak the Basque language (U.S Congress 1988). The ETA, a separatist terrorist group, takes this conflict against Spain at large, targeting Spanish politicians and police force (Gale 2009b).

Social Structure:

Stratification

* On a macro-level, Spain, in the past, has been a country with a sharp divide between the very wealthy and very poor, in addition to the royal monarchy. From the late 1980s the country developed a large middle class (Stanton pg. 19 2002) and “was the ninth's largest economy” (Bergareche 2011). This growth was largely due to tourism and industrial development. Recently, however, the recession of 2008 and 2009 has created a growing unemployment class, which is largely made of the young and immigrants (Gale 2010b). In 2011, among those under the age of 25 in Spain, 42.8 percent are unemployed (Bergareche 2011).

* Again, on the macro-level, Spain itself has become a relatively equitable country with the influence brought by tourists, the expanding economy, and other sources of change, including the media (U.S Congress 1988). There are, however, still inequalities facing some groups in Spain along ethnic and gender lines. Though their status has greatly increased, women, for example, still face discrimination in the workplace as they have lower wages than men and sometimes suffer from sexual harassment . Further, the Roma people are also discriminated against, though, to a much larger degree in that they are often refused housing. Immigrants, including those from Africa and Morocco, also suffer from racist acts such as the 2000 burning of a mosque in Andalusia (Stanton p.12, 2002). In 2010, Muslim women were forbidden, by Barcelona law to wear a head scarf in public (Gale. 2009b). * Though they have largely an equitable social structure similar to the rest of Spain, there is also social and economic stratification among the Basque. Economically, there is a chance for upward mobility yet, there is an upper class comprised of bankers and factory owners. For Basque people living in rural areas, those who own a baserria, or a farmstead hold a higher social status (Douglass and Beierle). Basques and non-Basques are also split in “a near castelike division” (Douglass and Beierle).

* On a micro-level, social structure in Spain features an openness to form friendships. Groups are formed among co-workers, students sharing classes at school, and people from the same town that go to parties and events together. Having friends from kindergarten is also popular (Gale 2010b). Groups of friends will often go for late nights having fun, however, less so among Catalans who have developed a strong work ethic (Stanton p. 50 2002).

* Specifically, among the Andalucians, friendships are formed based on one's daily activities. Men, who work outside the home, label their friend as amigo. An amigo is “a friend with whom one casually interacts” (Miller pg. 150 2010) and is made when a man visits a bar. For women, friends are calledvecina, meaning neighbor, reflecting some Andalucian women's place at the home (Miller pg. 150 2010).

Gender Roles:

* During the General Franciso Franco's reign, gender roles were strongly defined in not only by informal norms but also by law (U.S Congress 1988) but since then, Spain has become even more open about variance in gender roles than in the United States. Spain women, in the past, were expected “to be nuns, wives, or whores” (Stanton p. 22 2002) while men were expected to be the sole source of economic income but little help in raising the children or contributing to household work. In 1978, the Constitution granted equal rights to women, allowing them, especially women living in urban areas, greater access in society. Men are now required, by Spanish law, to share half of the household chores (Global Road Warrior 2010a) but they can also receive time off from work for parental care (Gale 2009b).Women now make up 41 percent of the the Spanish work force and, in 2008, Spain's National Legislature was 36.3 percent female, 19.5 percent more than the percentage of women in the National Legislature of the United States (Scafher pg. 373 2010).

* Homosexuality, once condemned, has become accepted to a certain extent. In 2002, 60 percent of Spaniards found homosexuality to be normal. Gay culture, however, is more accepted than lesbian culture (Stanton pg.55 2002). Still, in 2005, gay marriage became legal in Spain (Gale 2009) despite the disapproval by the Roman Catholic Church (Staff 200).

Family Structure:

* In the past, divorce was illegal until 1981 and marriage had to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Further, the traditional family was usually a large one, containing many children and extended family members (U.S. Congress 1988). Family relationships were patterned based on gender with female children forming bonds lasting relationships with their mothers and male children spending time with their male friends (Gale 2009). Amidst the changing culture of Spain; however, the family structure has also been affected. Families in Spain are smaller now with the normal number of children being around two and young people seek to form nuclear families, families centering around two parents and children, (Gale 2009) if they are able to be independent. Recently, with the bad economy and longer education, adults in their mid-to-late twenties are forced to stay with their parents (Stanton pg.53 2002), however, Spaniards typically stay at home longer than other Europeans normally (European Youth Research pg. 57, 2007). * Though the family structure may have changed, the family is still considered valuable enough that many living within Spain sacrifice some freedom. Among the young people of Galicia, for example, the desire to live in a more modern life and become more autonomous,is weighed against the desire to be at home with family. One such family relationship which is strong among Galicians is the bond between elderly relatives. Further, some Galician youth will turn down employment opportunities to be closer to family (European Youth Research pg. 64 2007).