Professor of the UPV/EHU Pello Jauregi gave the conference at the Moti+batu meeting organized by Emun in Donostia-San Sebastián in September 2014. He titrated his speech with the following title: “From behavior to behavior: infringing, adaptive and dissuasive behaviors”. In the following lines you have an adapted transcript of the conference. In this link you will find the video: www.lantalan.com/motibatu-topaketa.

Pello Jauregi: They told me how to jump from attitude or motivation to behavior or use to give me a talk. In the title "from behavior to attitude," I was told if I put it wrong. No, no. I understood that well, but I would like to say the opposite. People with a deeply rooted motivation will likely change their behavior to make them feel coherent. If I really get sick because I do it in Spanish, if I really love Euskera, and my behavior is in Spanish, I will try to be consistent, and because I have a very deep roots that I have to speak in Euskera, I will change my behavior. That is true. But I think that very rarely can happen, you can't generalize. All interventions [are being discussed with agents who develop Euskera plans] cannot be considered in this line. Usage plans based on strong personal motivation are short-term.

Seeking consistency

People are looking for coherence. For example, it may happen that in our contact networks [in the workplace] we are forced to act in another way of making the language [doing in Basque]. That person is not accustomed, generates imbalance in the system, but people have begun to speak, even the boss, the report has come to him in that language… If the individual is long immersed in a social situation like this and has little way of escape, in the end he will change his attitude. Therefore, the attitude, the closeness with the Basque Country, will come to him because he has been immersed in the behavior in Euskera. So we do it from behavior to attitude. I am interested in this second.

You need, on the one hand, the spinal cord, the heart, the motivated people, the one who has strength. But most people are going to make a change, not because of motivation, not because of consciousness, but because they're going to have to adapt to the social environment that they have. The social environment will be created by a motivated minority and the others will adapt, adopt an adaptive attitude. Those who are highly motivated have infringing behavior, they're going to break what they have around them so they feel good. The two forces must be joined together. We would be naive if we believed that the whole of society advances through motivation.

The will is insufficient

We have two speeches. On the one hand, we have the discourse of will, the discourse of motivation, and on the other, the sociological discourse, the social measures. What about the discourse of the will? When we're angry at social situations, we start talking to friends and we say, "Oh, yeah." “If we all met, in Kago the punch, we would take money out of the banks and the banks would fail.” Or: “If the workers came together, they wouldn’t do such a cut.” Or: “If all the Basques were…”. There are few instances of real change. Why? Because we use will, but banks, companies… use social measures. The rest of us adapt to that. Our social behavior is stronger than our will. Euskal Herria has been castilized and has not been for the will of the people, but because there was no other remedy, because political, economic and military measures have been taken, and for generations we have been adapting to that century. Today, we function calmly in Spanish, we have adapted our attitude to that attitude. Why do we shift our comfort from something that works well to a complicated situation? Who is going to do it? A few, but not all. There's less and less energy, and it's no wonder.

Franco as a fire

When has there been the highest level of consciousness in society? At the end of Francoism. The social situation was harsh, and some responded with anger, with a sense of injustice and impotence. If in a social group these social emotions are generated and rooted, that's where consciousness and motivation can come from, and try to change things. In the last 30 years, social emotion has inevitably fallen. Today the repression of the Basque Country is not evident. Surely there will be much more awareness in Navarre, because the social situation is tougher. But our children [offered the conference in Donostia] have gone to the ikastola normally, they can speak in Basque if they want. So where will motivation come from? A few consciences, the essence of which must be used to shape others.

Tempting collaborator

The pairs of workers in the workplace have been analyzed. They've gone from speaking in Spanish to speaking in Basque. One of them is highly motivated and keeps the process going. The other one gets carried away, adapts. Let's take an example. “I have known that you are learning Basque, that you understand it in Basque, so from now on I will do it in Basque.” This is an action taken by the Euskaldun conscious, the other has no choice but to talk to him in Euskera. It has been getting used to it, it has been acquiring capacity, it has changed its attitude, the Basque has become totally useful. It changes attitude because it has had to have an adaptive behavior, not because it wants to.

Euskaltegi Baietz teachers do so in Spanish

I remember an example to see the game between motivation and social measures. A decade ago, we organized a postgraduate course at the university for Euskaltegis faculty. It was supposed that those teachers were passionate Euskaltzales. A bet was made between two professors who taught the training: At the end of the class, the professors of the Basque Country will speak in Spanish. Who has the most strength, the authority of the teacher, or the motivation of the people? The one who said they would keep the Basque country lost the wager. How did he do that? He took material in Spanish, and commenting on the material, he started in Spanish, and people slowly, plin-plin, fell into the hook that had put the head of that herd. I'm interested in that. How to create inertia or social measures to make the use of Euskera indispensable? You have to put your head on this more and more.

What language will the workers of Arrasate and Ezpeleta do?

Suppose that in a Mondragon cooperative, most workers are Basque. What if 10 Ezpeleta workers who are bilingual Euskera-French were hired? The only reasonable way for them to adapt is to speak in Basque. It's a social mechanism, we need to be consistent, we seek balance. Sometimes, however, we oppose this trend, we have a disruptive behavior, we disagree and fight. If we don't fight, nine out of ten adapt. The workers of Ezpeleta and Arrasate would speak in Basque naturally. I call this social mechanism symmetry.

Inertia for the Basque Country

There is another social mechanism, I call it “regulatory option if I don’t ask.” In the group, in the department, in the institution, in the family, in the group… you can say that inertia will play in Euskera. For example, in the workplace all the reports will be made in Basque, and if someone requests one in Spanish we will pass it. What happens when there is this mechanism? Inertia or social mechanism tends to favor Euskera, it is easier to adapt to it than to ask for another language. Asking in another language creates little discomforts: what will you think of me; I have to do some more operations to get Spanish; I need for today and maybe don’t get the translation until tomorrow…

Protecting the most motivated

It is very hard to demand that the individual contravenes social norms and take responsibility behind them. The starting point is the use of Euskera by those who are aware, since the social situation occurs when they speak in Euskera. But in order for this to happen, in the group, in the company, in the department of the organization, measures must be taken to protect their behaviors. These people must feel that their conduct is legitimate. This does not mean that the sponsors express a great disposition, but at least do not oppose it. Sociologically, most people are in that group.

Threesome: motivated people, normal people, support

In short, the Basque plan has to take into account three things. First of all, a conscious heart with a violent behavior that breaks the balance of the social environment. Secondly, the ordinary people who are going to be around, who are not going to oppose, who are willing to adapt. Thirdly, protective measures, agreed upon, or at least give legitimacy to the actions in Basque. When we place the practice purely in Euskera in a social environment, we create an adaptive whirlwind around, and from there will come the diffusion of the Basque. Surely, in our environment, a lot of work is done on the psychological perspective, centered on the individual. My proposal is to put more of a head on the sociological, on the networks of relationships.