Rethinking Europe Social Theory and the Implications of Europeanization
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
University of Liverpool, UK Department of Social and Political Science, Royal Holloway<p><strong>'Rethinking Europe provides a thought-provoking and important contribution to European studies. In this book, Gerard Delanty and Chris Rumford propose to develop a new vision of Europe. This vision does not focus on defining what is distinctivelyEuropean but explores the cosmopolitan quality of Europe.'</strong></p><p><em>- Milena Büchs, </em><em>University of Southampton</em></p><p><strong>Rethinking Europe makes a valuable contribution to the question of how political entities such as nation states, the European Union and a ‘global polity’ are related to ‘society building’.</strong> - <em>Sociology, Book Reviews</em></p>
Dominant approaches to the transformation of Europe ignore contemporary social theory interpretations of the nature and dynamics of social change. Here, Delanty and Rumford argue that we need a theory of society in order to understand Europeanization. This book advances the case that Europeanization should be theorized in terms of:
- globalization
- major social transformations that are not exclusively spear-headed by the EU
- the wider context of the transformation of modernity.
This fascinating book broadens the terms of the debate on Europeanization, conventionally limited to the supersession of the nation-state by a supra-national authority and the changes within member states consequent upon EU membership.
Demonstrating the relevance of social theory to contemporary issues and with a focus on European transformation rather than simplistic notions of Europe-building, this truly multidisciplinary volume will appeal to readers from a range of social science disciplines, including sociology, geography, political science and European studies.
1. Theorizing Europeanization: Towards a Constructionist Theory of Society 2. History, Modernity and the Multiple Conceptions of Europe: European Transformation in Historical Perspective 3. Is there a European Identity? European Self-Understanding Beyond Unity and Diversity 4. What Does it Mean to be a ‘European’? The Possibility of Cosmopolitan Loyalties 5. The New Cultural Logic of Europeanization: Citizenship, Memory, and Public Discourse 6. The European Social Model: From Welfare State to Learning Society and Beyond 7. Organizing European Space: Borderlands, ‘Undivided Europe', and Spatiality Beyond Territory 8. The European Union as Non-State: The Spatialization of EU Governance 9. Towards a European Polity? Europe Meets the World 10. Rethinking European Society: The Global Civil Society Context Conclusion: Towards a Cosmopolitan Europe