Download full text
(4.779Mb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-78956-4
Exports for your reference manager
A community of shared values? Dimensions and dynamics of cultural integration in the European Union
[journal article]
Abstract The series of recent crises (EURO, refugees, backsliding, Brexit) challenge the self-portrayal of the European Union (EU) as a community of shared values. Against this backdrop, we analyse European Values Study data from 1990 till 2020 to assess the level and change in publics’ acceptance of the EU’... view more
The series of recent crises (EURO, refugees, backsliding, Brexit) challenge the self-portrayal of the European Union (EU) as a community of shared values. Against this backdrop, we analyse European Values Study data from 1990 till 2020 to assess the level and change in publics’ acceptance of the EU’s officially propagated values: personal freedom, individual autonomy, social solidarity, ethnic tolerance, civic honesty, gender equality and liberal democracy. We find that EU publics support these values strongly and increasingly over time. The EU-member publics are also remarkably distinct culturally from Eastern European non-EU-nations, especially concerning individual freedoms and gender equality. Simultaneously, however, member nations internalize EU-values at different speeds - alongside traditional religious fault lines that continue to differentiate Europe - in the following order from fastest to slowest: (1) Protestant, (2) Catholic, (3) Ex-communist and (4) Orthodox countries. In conclusion, the EU writ large evolves into a distinct value-sharing community at different speeds.... view less
Keywords
EVS; EU; value system; cultural integration; religious factors; value-orientation; Protestant; Roman Catholic; post-communist society; Orthodox Church
Classification
European Politics
Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature
Social Psychology
Free Keywords
EU-values; religious legacies; EVS1990; EVS1999; EVS2008; EVS2017
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 1-22
Journal
Journal of European Integration (2021)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2021.1956915
ISSN
1477-2280
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0