When Similar Cultures Clash: Spain vs Italy

At first sight, European tensions over migration seem an unlikely subject for an intercultural blog. The tumultuous events in Ceuta less than two weeks ago involve border protection, migration policies, European solidarity and Schengen: matters pertaining to politics and law rather than culture. This impression is made stronger by the ensuing and ongoing diplomatic confrontation between Spain and Italy, two countries traditionally perceived as culturally very close and sharing numerous cultural values.

And yet, looking a little closer - politics firmly aside - we see an interesting intercultural question emerging:

How is it that the same event can produce such different ideas about what constitutes reasonable, responsible and even respectful behaviour between two supposedly very compatible cultures?

Clearly, reality is both more complicated and more subtle.

Like it or not, we all manifest a degree of ethnocentrism: the deeply rooted human tendency to assess and ultimately judge other cultures by the standards of our own culture. Still, its everyday form is far less dramatic and, nonetheless, largely inevitable.

We learn what is normal through the environment in which we grow up, live and work. Over time, those learned assumptions become so familiar that we stop experiencing them as cultural preferences. They simply feel sensible.

This matters when we talk about cultural values. In the case of Spain and Italy, their apparent cultural proximity is not just a stereotype. Large-scale studies such as the European Values Study (EVS) and World Values Survey (WVS) corroborate the findings from our own recent intercultural work by placing Spain and Italy relatively close on several important societal values, one of which is solidarity.

Let’s focus, then, for a moment on solidarity, since it seems to be a particularly relevant cultural value in the circumstances. So, what happened?

When Similar Cultures Clash

One country, Spain, suddenly finds itself dealing with an enormous influx of migrants. One possible expression of solidarity from a partner country – reflecting Spain’s expectation – could be:

Whatever our disagreements about migration policy, this is an emergency. We stand with you now and discuss responsibility later.

However, another equally coherent reaction – the one given by Italy – could be:

Solidarity means ensuring that your national decisions do not create serious consequences for everybody else.

This disagreement doesn't pitch solidarity against selfishness.

It concerns what solidarity means inside a given cultural context.

Trust is another value worth considering here. The EVS identifies trust, alongside solidarity and tolerance, as one of three interrelated key values for understanding life in society. Interestingly, recent OECD data show identical levels of interpersonal trust in Spain and Italy.

If Spain believes that a trusted European partner should stand beside it during a crisis, Italian criticism and border measures can feel like betrayal.

Italy may turn the argument around: if policies maintained in Spain potentially affect Italy, why should a trusted partner expect solidarity without sufficiently considering the consequences for others?

Both sides can therefore sincerely believe that the other has violated the requirements of trust. Again, politics aside, we are just focusing on the possible intercultural aspects.

In OEF!’s own intercultural work, we have repeatedly encountered flexibility and adaptation as values associated with both Spanish and Italian cultures. In both contexts, this can include a willingness to treat agreements as adaptable when circumstances change and to respond pragmatically to unexpected developments.

Yet the Spain–Italy confrontation demonstrates why national comparisons, popular in intercultural literature throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, only take us so far.

Two cultures may both value flexibility while disagreeing completely about what should be flexible.

Should European partners adapt their normal expectations because Spain faces exceptional circumstances? Should Spain adapt its migration policy because other countries may experience consequences?

The value may be shared. What it means in practice differs.

And cultural similarity can make matters even worse. When dealing with someone whom we already perceive as very different, misunderstanding is almost expected. When dealing with someone we regard as similar, our reaction can become: Surely, of all people, you should understand us!

From a purely intercultural perspective, this makes the current confrontation between Spain and Italy more interesting and thought-provoking than, for example, classic disagreements between Southern and Northern Europe.

And it is exactly why we at OEF! treat curiosity as an essential intercultural competence.

Curiosity does not require us to abandon our convictions, excuse behaviour or agree with the other side. It asks us to interrupt our standard, rapid journey from observation to judgment and change the nature of our question:

How can they behave like this?

What are they trying to protect?

Which assumption of mine possibly makes their behaviour seem so terribly wrong?

These small redirections in our thought process may not immediately resolve major matters such as migration policy, the definition of European solidarity or the dispute at hand. However, they do alert us to something we easily overlook: people may claim they share cultural values and still understand them very differently in practice.

ON EQUAL FOOTING takeaway:

“Try to look beyond cultural labels and uncover the assumptions beneath them. Because that is where intercultural understanding really begins.”

Similar footing, different ground

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