Slovenes in Hungary and Hungarians in Slovenia: Ethnic and state identity

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Abstract
Between 1984 and 1986, the Ethnic Study Group of the Gorky Library in Budapest and the Institute for Ethnic Studies in Ljubljana carried out a joint, complex sociological research project in the Slovene‐inhabited Southwestern areas of Hungary and the Northern border zone of Slovenia inhabited by Hungarians (Magyars). This article, based on the findings of this research, discusses the various dimensions and levels of the collective identity of these two communities living alongside the Hungarian‐Yugoslav border. The author concentrates on the dual ethnic and civic affiliation of the two minorities in the field of language use, ethno‐cultural traditions, habits of radio‐listening and TV‐viewing, personal contacts inside and outside the group, etc. He draws the conclusion that assimilation and segregation are not necessarily mutually exclusive, nor the only options open to minorities. The group's different kinds of identities are not always conflicting; they can be complementary, or even mutually reinforcing. People's small‐scale (community) and large‐scale (civic) attachments ‐ as the data of our survey confirmed ‐ satisfy distinct, though clearly related, basic human needs.

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