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Despite extensive research on the symbolic and institutional dimensions of othering, its relational foundations - how relationship characteristics and their embeddedness in wider networks shape experiences of othering - remain underexplored. Adopting a network lens, this paper analyses interactions in which legal citizens are othered on ethnic grounds by individuals within their personal networks and examines how they respond. Because legal citizens formally belong to the national in-group, understanding their othering requires shifting attention from legal status to the relational contexts in which boundaries are enacted. The article draws on semi-structured interviews conducted in Barcelona in 2023 with an ethnically diverse sample of 48 participants. Findings show that several relational factors moderate ethnic prejudices, shaping when and how othering occurs. These include the citizen's personal network, the ethnic composition of the interactional context, the perceived intentions of the other person, and the type and strength of the relationship between the interactants. These factors also structure power dynamics that constrain the strategies citizens can use in response, such as activating, deactivating, or crossing ethnic boundaries, or not contesting. Citizens' responses may, in turn, affect the perceptions of those who assign otherness, modifying ethnic prejudices and potentially shifting their behaviour beyond the specific interaction.
Núria Targarona Rifà (Mon,) studied this question.