Identity and otherness. A study on the Csangos from Moldova

Résumé

The paper presents the results of a sociological study conducted in four communities situated in the central area of Moldova. Its main aim was to establish the ethnic identity of Catholic population in the villages of central area of Moldova and to discover the way in which these communities build their ethnic and cultural identity. It was a mixed, quantitative and qualitative study. From a qualitative perspective, we used individual and group comprehensive interview. In the quantitative research, we used the social distance scale, ethnic attributes inventory and social representations inventory of different forms of capital. The results are focused on ethnic aspects and local features of studied communities and the conclusions reveal the methods of ethnic selfdefining for each community and their tendency to conserve local identity by refusing external influences that have an ideological stake.