They have asked a representative sample of Barcelonans what they think of feminism, religion, immigration, suicide, abortion, euthanasia, the monarchy, street vending, sneaking into the subway, smoking a joint, the call cake on time for the children…, come on, a splash of ingredients that, properly sewn the answers, can explain to someone from outside what a Barcelonan is in 2022. There are surprising results, go ahead. An example? The feminist movement has enviable support. In 2014 it was liked by 56.2% of citizens and now it is by 72.3%, but the strange thing is that of all the defensible ‘isms’ (environmentalism, multiculturalism, pacifism and the mentioned feminism) there is one that stands out surprisingly above the others, the animalismwith 92.7% unanimous support, practically, at the other end of the spectrum, the same percentage of rejection that racism generates in this increasingly multiethnic city, 94.7%.
A humble and honest advice is to go directly to the graphics that accompany this chronicle, a source of information from which everyone can take the sips they most want, but there is a background story that deserves not to go unnoticed.
Barcelona is a melting pot, a fruit salad or a Jackson Pollock (call it what you want) of a thousand colors, that is, a canvas of just 99 square kilometers in which humans born in 172 different countries of the world, in which less than half of the inhabitants are Barcelona natives by birth and where more than half of the residents registered less than 15 years ago at municipal offices. That is the demographic profile and yet, by osmosis, contagion or for whatever unexplained reason that heterogeneous population of 1.6 million people behaves like a perfect swarm of opinion.
81.1% of those surveyed are in favor of abortion. Of the euthanasia, 84.9%. 90.9% of residents mistrust political parties. The monarchy brings it to the hoof to 89.8% of Barcelonans, very interesting fact precisely these days. Suspicion of the press (that is, of what you are reading now) 73.4%. 71.7% believe that action must be taken in the face of the threat of climate change, and that it must also be done without hesitation or fear and with the utmost urgency. 94.3% believe that physical punishment of children can never be justified. There are a few more unanimities, but above all there is a battery of answers, those concerning immigration, which perhaps define more than others what it is to be from Barcelona.
First, a couple of backgrounds. This was in 1991 a city in which being a foreigner was an exoticism. Only 1.5% of residents were born in another country. In 2001, despite that breath of internationality that the Olympic Games brought, the figure was still timid, 4.9%. In 2010, with the economy in propulsion mode (although it was partly tourism, poorly paid), the percentage of foreigners was already 17.5%. The latest survey on this matter reveals that 30% of Barcelonans were born abroadalthough some of them have applied for Spanish nationality. How has this transformation been received?
Three ideas answer that question. First. That Barcelona is a receiving city for immigration is accepted as something very welcome (21.6%), quite good (45.4%) or just good (25.1%) naturally and growing. Acceptance totals 92.1%. In the previous survey of this type, those percentages were somewhat lower.
Second. Immigration is recognized for its contribution to the economic wealth of the country, its crucial role in maintaining the pension system and its limited role in the use of public services to the detriment of the native population. The fact that 41.7% of foreigners residing in Barcelona have university studies or a higher degree probably influences these responses.
There is only one but. 43.3% of those surveyed maintain that immigration can cause problems of coexistence, but… This is where, paradoxically, the third answer comes into play. Eight out of 10 Barcelonans believe that it is good that people from different cultures and customs coexist under the umbrella of the same country.
The survey confirms once again, on the other hand, the collapse of religionat the expense, excessively, of Catholicism, the majority faith in 1998, when among practitioners (19%) and non-practitioners (59.5%) it seemed that it was omnipresent in all corners of daily life, and that after 24 years it is on the way of insignificance. 54.7% of Barcelonans self-proclaim non-believers.
That point made, more deeply discussed in this newspaper last January, it is an obligation to reveal the b-side of the survey, which could perfectly have headed the text.
Back off associationismthe ‘I’ and the family are at the top of the important aspects of life, the rest of society is perceived as an environment (and in this order) materialist, individualist, sexist (as expressed by 84.2% of women and 77.6% of men), racist (It is curious, the Spaniards are the ones who most believe that their country is racist, 75.1%, and non-EU foreigners think so less, 60.9%), violent and conservative.
The reasons for this mismatch, between what the people of Barcelona say they are and what they see around them, can have many explanations, but among all the responses to the survey there is one that is symptomatically revealing. Can it be justified to buy apartments not to live, but to earn money? That was asked of them. 63.5% answered yes. How opportune to revisit here the way in which the economist Pierre-Yves Gomez defined one day what a rentier is, someone willing to benefit from the wealth created without feeling obliged to participate in the productive effort. Pure individualism.
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In this section of face b of the survey, it is also necessary to underline a gradual growth of support for the death penalty (already reaching 33.1%, with unusual support among younger people) and, although still at very low levels, a ‘je-m’en-foutisme’ about which is the best political system to coexist in community. Democracy is without rival the preferred formula, for 81.9% of Barcelonans, but for 12.1% (a figure that perhaps reaffirms from another perspective that individualistic view of life that the survey exudes) they do not care What is the current political system? They are few, but more and more. 24 years ago they were half. In front of them there is, however, a majority of the population that, although with disdain for the political party system, is mostly on the left. Only 9.5% of Barcelonans perceive themselves to be on the right.
It was said before. Patient observation of the graphics can bring even more colors to this palette about what a Barcelonan is, how he sees himself in the mirror and how he contemplates the reality that surrounds him. It would be interesting to compare these results with those of another city, but for this it would be essential to use the same work methodology. It is not the case. What a Barcelonan is in 2022 is, in any case, roughly defined. There is only one question left. Is happy? Are you satisfied with the life you have lived? They give this question a note. A 7.9. Not bad.