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Projects Contract
n°HPSE-CT-2001-00077 Title
of the project:
Orientations of Young Men and Young Women to Citizenship and European
Identity Coordinator:
Lynn
Jamieson, University of Edinburgh, l.jamieson@ed.ac.uk
. Partners
and Researchers: Susan
Condor, University of Lancaster; Claire Wallace and Reingard Spanning, Institute
for Advanced Studies, Vienna; Klaus Boehnke, Bernhard Nauk and Daniel Fuss,
International University Bremen and Techische Universitaet Chemnitz; Sue Grundy,
University of Edinburgh, Maria Ros, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Hector
Grad, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid; Ladislav Machacek, Insitute of Sociology,
and Gabriel Bianchi, Department of Social and Biological Communication, The
Slovak Academy of Sciences. Website
for the project:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/sociol/youth/
Objectives
of the project ·
To describe the salience and meanings of ‘being European’ for young
people from strategically selected parts of Europe in the context of their
constructions of their personal identities, such as gender identities, and their
constructions of their local, regional, ethnic or national identities ·
To describe respondents' ideals and practices of belonging with friends
and family, to a locality, neighbourhood or local community, to a region, to a
nation, to Europe and to a global community. ·
To describe respondents' understandings of citizenship, in particular to
explore the extent of emphasis on social obligations and civic participation,
entitlements of birth and ethnicity, nation-based or ethnicity-based
citizenship, citizenship of inclusion or exclusion, tolerance or chauvinism and
racism. ·
To document respondents' orientation to migration and trans-national
links through their perceptions of their family history, desires for and
feelings of competence to achieve international mobility and experience and
perceptions of migrants in and out of their region/nation. ·
To explore variation by nation and region of residence, by gender,
career path and social circumstances. Description
of the project A multi-site investigation of identity and citizenship among young men
and woman in strategically selected nations and regions. The selected sites are
in four pairs of nations, or nations and regions, with contrasting histories of
cultural alignment for or against European identity and of investments in
nation-based and ethnicity-based citizenship: ·
Vienna and the Bregenz area of Vorarlberg in Austria; ·
Madrid and Bilbao in Spain; ·
Chemnitz and Bielefeld, in Germany; ·
Bratislava and Prague in the Slovak and Czech Republics; ·
Edinburgh, Scotland and Manchester, England in the UK. In each of these sites, we will identify two groups of young people aged
18-24: a random sample across all
social backgrounds and career paths, and a highly educated group who are on a
career path which orients them to Europe, such as European Law or studying
several European languages. This
will allow us to compare 'ordinary' young people with those who have particular
reasons for being pro-European. In both cases, we will recruit only young people
who have grown up in the region/nation and equal numbers of young men and young
women. Following preparatory pilot work, a structured questionnaire will be
used to explore the salience and meanings of ‘being European’ and
respondents' ideals and practices of citizenship. The questionnaire will begin
to explore understandings, experiences and practices involved in constructions
of self-in-relation-to-others, social obligation to others, and sense of social
inclusion and exclusion that may be the building blocks of racism and tolerance,
civic and ethnic citizenship. After analysis of this phase, we will conduct
in-depth interviews with sub-samples of young people to further unpack the
processes that may be underpinning particular understandings and practices of
citizenship and identity construction. This will include further analysis of how
personal, familial and locally based understandings, experiences and practices
connect to orientations to being 'European' and European citizenship. Expected
results The research will provide new insight into the orientations of young
people to 'being European' and to European citizenship, including better insight
into the possible sources of variation between and within nations and regions.
Regional and national effects will be explored through comparisons of
strategically selected regions and nations. The effects of gender and career
path will be mapped through comparison of 'ordinary' young men and young women
and highly educated young men and young women whose careers orient them to
European job markets rather than local job markets. Greater depth of insight into orientations to being European and
European citizenship will be achieved not only through these focused comparisons
but also by locating orientations in everyday meanings, experiences and
practices of constructing self-in-relation-to-others. The results will indicate
connections between young people's constructions of personal and local identity,
including their gender identities, and their orientations to citizenship and
nationality. This greater depth will assist in identifying how particular
constellations of personal and local factors might impede or encourage the
development of particular constructions of European citizenship identity.
Conclusion about factors encouraging particular versions of European identity
and citizenship, with implications for racism and tolerance, may, in turn,
suggest issues that could be addressed through citizenship education or other
policy and practice initiatives. Dissemination will take the form of briefings for policy makers,
practitioners and young people at regional, national and European level,
including an accessible account of variation in young people's orientations to
being European and European identity, between and within nations and regions.
Briefings will address specific issues of policy relevance such as variation in
young people's receptivity to in-migrants and commitment to mobility within
Europe; processes of racism, constructions of civic and ethnic citizenship and
citizenship education. |