This book presents the main findings of a comparative qualitative survey conducted in France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. Ordinary citizens from very different social backgrounds and professions were asked a range of open-ended questions, allowing them to express themselves freely. There have been few qualitative surveys on ordinary citizens' views of European integration, and none on this scale. The resulting picture is very different from the self-evident assumptions of many current studies on European opinions.
Contributions to the volume stress the great diversity, ambiguity, and complexity of European attitudes. They emphasise the causal impact of formal education, political interest and involvement, individual everyday exposures to ‘European’ realities, and the role of collective national experiences of European integration and national history.
~ The first qualitative survey among ordinary people from all social strata across Europe that explores perceptions and judgments on ‘Europe’ and the EU.
~ Explains the underlying logic of why Europe and European integration are such a far reality to most citizens.
~ Explores how most citizens are poorly – but unequally – informed about and interested in European subjects;
~ Investigates how citizens are able to express perceptions of ‘Europe’ by using a series of analogies and comparisons often linked to their daily experiences.
~ Identifies the complex range of issues that influence our perceptions, and the irresolute, fragmentary, mixed, and sometimes contradictory nature of these opinions.
Daniel Gaxie is a political sociologist and Professor of political science at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has conducted extensive research on political participation, attitudes and behaviour, elites, institutions and public policies. As well as his involvement in the INTUNE and Eurelites projects he is known for his book Le cens caché (The Hidden Disfranchisement) first published in 1978.
Nicolas Hubé is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Deputy-Dean of the Political Science Department at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. As well as his involvement in the INTUNE project, his research interests include the use and misuse of polls in political life and communication in EU institutions. He has published in Perspectives on European Politics and Society.
Jay Rowell is a full-time researcher in sociology at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and director of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE) at the University of Strasbourg. His research focuses in particular on disability policy and the uses of statistical instruments in the European polity. He has recently published, with A Campana and E Henry, La construction des problèmes publics en Europe, Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 2007 and with M Mangenot , A political sociology of Europe: Reassessing Constructivism, Manchester University Press, 2010.
Philippe Aldrin is a professor of political science at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, and a member of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE-PRISME) and of the ERMES (UNS) research team.
Giuliano Bobba is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society at the University of Turin. His research interests include: political communication and election campaigns; primaries elections; the evolution of political parties and leadership in Western democracies; the European integration process and the development of a European public sphere. He has published in particular on election campaigns, media and politics in Italy and France.
Marie-Hélène Bruère is an assistant research engineer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a member of the European Sociological and Political Science Centre – Sorbonne Political Research Centre (CESSP-CRPS).
Dorota Dakowska is a senior lecturer in political science at the Strasbourg Institute of Political Studies (IEP) and a member of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE-PRISME).
Marine De Lassalle is a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Strasbourg, and a member of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE-PRISME).
Katarzyna Jaszczyk is a doctoral student in political science at the University of Warsaw’s Institute of Applied Political Studies, and a member of the European Sociological and Political Science Centre – Sorbonne Political Research Centre (CESSP-CRPS).
Patrick Lehingue is a professor of political science at the University of Picardie, and a member of the CURAPP research team.
Christèle Marchand is a doctor in political science at the University of Avignon, and a member of the CURAPP research team.
Jean-Matthieu Méon is a senior lecturer in information and communication science at the University Paul Verlaine of Metz, and a member of the CREM research team.
Sébastian Michon is a Senior Researcher at the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) and member of the SAGE laboratory (Societies, Actors and Government in Europe). He teaches at the Institute of Political Sciences in Strasbourg. Recently, he published: 'When Europe Mobilises' (in Gaxie and Hubé (eds), Rowell 2011, with Hubé and Méon) and 'European Parliament: the emergence of specialists of European political work' (in Georgakakis (ed), Rowell 2013, with Willy Beauvallet).
Muriel Rambour is a doctor in political science, and an associate member of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE-PRISME) and of the European Sociological and Political Science Centre – Sorbonne Political Research Centre (CESSP-CRPS).
Pierre-Edouard Weill is a doctoral student at the University of Strasbourg, and a member of the Centre for European Political Sociology (GSPE-PRISME).
