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This book shows empirically for the first time how a mass European identity has emerged across the EU member states between 1970 and the present day. Beyond this novel approach, it also offers a whole new theory of political identities, based on two 'civic' and 'cultural' components. Michael Bruter shows how multiple identities reinforce - rather than exclude - each other, and studies in depth the unsuspected impact of the media and political institutions on the emergence of new political identities.
List of contents
List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Plan of the Book: Summary of the Chapters Introduction: What is Identity? PART I: THEORISING THE EMERGENCE OF A EUROPEAN IDENTITY The Model and Research Design: Institutions, Media, and the Development of a Mass European Identity A Comparative Analytic Narrative of Identity Formation in the United Kingdom, Austria, Israel, and the United States of America With Aforethought? Institutions, Symbols, and the Quest for a New Identity in Europe PART II: HAS A MASS EUROPEAN IDENTITY EMERGED? Who Feels European? Measurement of European Identity and Differences Across Individuals News, Symbols, and Evolution of Individuals' Level of European Identity Symbols of European Integration, Institutional Inertia, and News on Europe: 1970-2000 On What it Means to 'Be European': Making Citizens Talk about 'Europe' and 'Europeanness' Conclusion: Institutions and the Emergence of a Mass Political Identity: Lessons for the Future Appendices Tables and Figures Bibliography Endnotes
About the author
MICHAEL BRUTER is Lecturer in European Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. His work specializes in the study of European identity, public opinion, electoral behaviour, and extreme right politics. He has pubished numerous articles and conducted several research projects in these fields and various areas of European Union and comparative European politics.
Summary
This book shows empirically for the first time how a mass European identity has emerged across the EU member states between 1970 and the present day. Beyond this novel approach, it also offers a whole new theory of political identities, based on two 'civic' and 'cultural' components. Michael Bruter shows how multiple identities reinforce - rather than exclude - each other, and studies in depth the unsuspected impact of the media and political institutions on the emergence of new political identities.
