The weak underpinnings of the political left-wing culture in Spain.

Abstract

This article analyses the characteristics and evolution of the left-wing political culture in Spain over the last thirty years of democracy. The analysis takes us along two lines: Firstly, we study its attempts to re-appropriate the cultural codes of Spanish democracy. But we also provide various empirical data to identify the cultural bases around which the left-wing political identity has been articulated. The main argument is that the Spanish left very soon identified with the modernising agenda of Spanish democracy, adapting to it. This explains much of its success, but also the difficulties it has had in developing its own specific vision of political reality. Following the crisis at the end of the nineties, there has been a certain re-definition of the political and cultural foundations of left-wing activity, albeit without any clear pattern having emerged yet.