The Model and Research Design: Institutions? Media? And the Development of a Mass European Identity

Abstract

This book is concerned with the progressive emergence of a mass European identity. As outlined earlier, in conceptual terms, this work depends on an understanding of political identities that considers them mutually compatible at the individual level, and also susceptible to evolve over time. Analytically, however, the claims of my model go further. Indeed, in this book, I assert that political identities, if they transform over time, do not just evolve randomly but can be at least partly influenced by the messages sent by institutions to citizens.