A More-Dimensional Approach to Measuring European Identity

The measurement of European identity at the micro-level has proven to be a difficult and challenging task. Especially in mass surveys, European identity is rather measured as self-categorization which lacks important aspects of the concept of identification such as a “we-feeling” or “togetherness”. In this paper, a more-dimensional approach to the measurement of European identity is presented which tries to capture not only individual self-categorization but also the significance of these categories and the individual perceptions of shared group similarities. It is analysed how these measures relate to concepts such as national identity, in-group solidarity and trust. The model will be tested empirically using data from a quantitative survey specialised on capturing identities in Germany which is conducted in May 2014 at the University of Mainz. The analysis contributes to our understanding about how collective identities can be conceptualized and measured as well as how they relate to political attitudes.