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ABSTRACT The goal of this study is twofold: firstly, we want to explore specific identity that has been emerging as a consequence of many EU-related changes (e.g. development of transport, ICT, increasing number of different EU programs and new EU policies); secondly, we want to test the role of social media in building this new identity that we call EUens (European Union citizens). Conducting in-depth interviews with 25 EUens we find that some issues which are commonly seen as important factors in European identity construction, such as class and political attitudes, do not play any significant role in constructing European identity for members of our group. Secondly, our analysis suggests that social media have potential of becoming important driver of European identity.
KEYWORDS
EUROPEAN IDENTITY, EUENS, EUROPEAN UNION, NATIONAL IDENTITY, SOCIAL MEDIA
SAŽETAK Cilj je ove studije dvostruk: prvo, želimo istražiti poseban identitet koji se pojavio kao posljedica mnogih promjena povezanih s Europskom unijom (mobilnost, IKT, rastući broj različitih EU programa i novih EU politika); drugo, želimo testirati ulogu društvenih medija u graðenju ovog novog identiteta koji mi nazivamo EUens. Provodeći dubinske intervjue s 25 EUensa, pronašli smo kako pojedine kategorije koje su obično smatrane važnim faktorima u graðenju europskog identiteta, kao što su klasa i politički stavovi, ne igraju važnu ulogu u graðenju europskog identiteta meðu pripadnicima naše grupe. Drugo, rezultati našeg istraživanja pokazuju kako društveni mediji imaju potencijal da postanu važan pokretač europskog identiteta.
KLJUČNE RIJEČI
EUROPSKI IDENTITET, EUENS, EUROPSKA UNIJA, NACIONALNI IDENTITET, DRUŠTVENI MEDIJI
INTRODUCTION
European identity as a concept, designed and decided at the Copenhagen European Communities summit (Commission, 1974), has been widely studied and examined in several disciplines (political science, anthropology, history, sociology) (Habermas, 2001), and from many different aspects, including studies in which authors tried to reveal what motivates citizens from different European countries to support idea of European integration (Eichenberg and Dalton, 1993; Gabel, 1998).
Neil Fligstein (2008) and Fligstein and Alina Polyakova and Wayne Sandholtz (2012) in their work find that people who are likely to adopt European identity are those who speak second languages, report having traveled to another member state in the past 12 months, and who have joined European wide organizations. Author also finds evidence that these groups tend to come from the...