Cultural aspects of the European identity discourse

Sociology

Abstract

The process of the European identity formation in the context of integration processes in the EU has been studied for the last twenty years. The article contains data on the current aspects of European research in Russia: the study of the specifics of the supranational identity formation in the European Union (conditions, factors, structure, components and stages of the formation of European identity); the study of civil society and social policy in the EU as the basic institutional forms of implementing the project of European identity; analysis of the socio-cultural aspects of European identity (language policy, education, the semiosphere of European identity), etc. The relevance of such studies is explained by the fact that the integration processes in the EU are non-linear and multi-speed. Moreover, the dynamics of European integration prove the complex interrelationship between the institutional and cultural factors of this process. European identity as a political project of the European Union is facing troubles currently. In these conditions it is important to assess the content and direction of the scientific and media discourses. At the same time, the most relevant, in our opinion, are the cultural aspects of these discourses. That involves an assessment of the way how the history of European states, European cultural values, the problems of linguistic diversity in the context of a European identity construction are interpreted, how the intercultural dialogue is set up, and a unified education system is implemented (including through the Bologna process). These issues are actively discussed within the framework of scientific discourse. Despite the fact that media discourse rarely uses the concept «European identity», the content and focus of these issues discussed in the scientific and media discourses on the whole coincide.