Aspects Of European Cultural Diversity

Three of the essays have been written from a German perspective, the fourth is by an English author, but all of them encompass a Europe-wide view of their subject. This book will help readers to place themselves within the context of everyday Europe and to identify those factors which make them and their own environment unique.

The word `Europe' is seen and heard constantly, in newspapers, on television and children are taught about it in school. But what does it really mean to us? Does it have the same meaning for everyone? How does it affect our everyday lives? Do we consider ourselves to be Europeans and what does that mean in practice? This book concentrates on aspects of European cultural diversity. The four essays included deal with language, education, the mass media and everyday culture. The issues under discussion are those that strongly influence the way in which we define our common, everyday identity. They are also issues which determine our access to opportunities of different kinds. The book is designed to enable readers to identify those factors which make them and their own environment unique and to place themselves within the context of everyday Europe.

This collection of articles devoted to Europe was born from the urgent need to present the specificity of European culture, both its unity and diversity, and at the same time create a stimulating dialogue about European culture and its complexities. European culture, considered as all inherited beliefs and values behind social action, has been treated in the past as a complex phenomenon of superior value, as the result of a common past among European nations, the permeation of various cultural elements between cultures, and their absorption in different contexts. In the past the process of shaping European identity was often fierce and dramatic, influenced by the events taking place within, but also outside European borders. Now, it has undergone various transformations as a result of new political, economic and cultural challenges. For this reason, the authors and editors of this volume place emphasis on diachronic perspectives: their approaches often consider local European issues against a global background.

As a consequence of various rounds of EU enlargements, the degree of cultural diversity in Europe has intensified a phenomenon which is increasingly perceived as problematic by many EU citizens. This fascinating book not only empirically explores the current state of the identity and the legitimacy of the EU as viewed by its citizens, but also evaluates their attitudes towards it. The expert contributors show that the development of a European identity and a common European culture is a prerequisite for European integration; that European identity and a common political culture will not develop rapidly but emerge slowly, and that the beginnings of a European identity and a common European culture are currently emerging. The roles of civil society organizations and political parties are examined within this context, and an explanatory model with subjective predictors of the attitudes towards the EU is tested. The empirical analysis is underpinned by a theoretical framework incorporating operational definitions and conceptual discussion of legitimacy and identity. This intriguing and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and students focusing on political science and international relations.

This book investigates and compares the values and dynamics of value changes in important life domains of the Europeans from an economic, political, social, and religious-moral point of view and explores the relationships between value orientations and societies' structural characteristics.

What are the key issues facing the makers of European cultural policy in the 2lst century? How is cultural policy at the metropolitan, national and European level addressing recent developments that are complicating the cultural and social realities of contemporary Europe? This book offers an innovative assessment of these questions and aims to provoke debates about the way forward for cultural policy in Europe. Based on extensive theoretical and empirical research by an interdisplinary team of international scholars, this volume critically addresses the way in which cultural policy has evolved until now, and develops new conceptual and theoretical perspectives for re-imagining cultural change and complexity. The book offers an interesting set of studies on transcultural flows between some major European metropoles (such as Berlin, London and Paris), on the rather closed realities of other European capitals (like Rome or Ljubljana) as well as on new cultural trends emerging in cities both at the heart and at the periphery of Europe (Vienna and Belgrade). Each contribution questions the relationship between cultural diversity, cultural policy and immigration. The book thus provides new insights into the limitations of the national framework for cultural policy and into the emerging transnational dynamics in European cities.

Europe has talked itself into a refugee and security crisis. There is, however, a misrecognition of the real challenge facing Europe: the challenge of managing the relationship between Europeans and the currently stigmatized ‘others’ which it has attracted. Making the case against a ‘Europe of walls’, Robin Wilson instead proposes a refounding of Europe built on the power of diversity and an ethos of hospitality rather than an institutional thicket serving the market.