On the Ethnolinguistic Identity of Flemish High School Students in Brussels

Abstract

The attitudes of Flemish high school students in Brussels towards different types of Brussels Flemings were registered in five different experimental conditions. The latter were created by varying systematically the following characteristics of the investigator: whether he belonged to the Flemish ingroup or to the Francophone outgroup, whether he was an insider or an outsider in Brussels, and whether he converged linguistically towards his audience or diverged from it. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the ethnic identity of the Ss and to evaluate Tajfel's and Giles's concept of it. It is argued that what their theory calls a positive sense of identity, in the present case, would be much better termed a defence mechanism serving to hide uneasiness and frustration and thereby protecting an uncertain and vulnerable self. Three points are made to show that the Ss' strong positive identification with the ‘consistent’ Brussels Flemings and their equally strong differentiation from the ‘gallicised’ ones cannot be considered as indicators of a positive sense of identity.