I have described Basque nationalism as founded on an ideology which views the social universe inside the Basque country as morally divided. This divide separates abertzales (patriots) or true Basques, defined as those who publicly and continually adhere to the political prescriptions contained within the symbols upon which the ideology is constructed, from españolistas or anti-Basques, defined as those whose behaviour (e.g. loyalties) breaches these prescriptions. This moral divide was reinforced by the creation – encouraged by the Basque ideology itself – of parallel institutions which gave the community of true Basques a largely self-contained social infrastructure. With the victory of Basque nationalism this infrastructure, although it remains exclusive, has, to a significant extent, been fused with the official institutions of the autonomous Basque country.

A similar process occurred in Elgeta. The moral system of Elgeta also saw the social universe in terms of a moral divide. Only those individuals who publicly adhered to local moral prescriptions were granted full membership in the moral community, the pueblo. Whereas the political prescriptions of the Basque nationalist community demand mobilization against the forces that threaten the community, equally the moral prescriptions of the pueblo led to a similar mobilization. Changes in the wider political and economic environment imposed on Elgeta official institutions that the pueblo judged illegitimate. In response the pueblo created a full set of parallel institutions that were sealed off and opposed to their official counterparts.