Research Report WP 8

Collective Identity Formation in Accession States

 WP 8 - Identity Formation and Enlargement

Online research report: 'Collective Identity Formation in Accession States' (download pdf)  

This report presents some of the research undertaken in WP 8 over the first year of the project, and the major research questions dealt with. During this period the focus of work package 8 has been on: (1) analysing the formation of collective identities with regard to past, present and future enlargement processes; (2) comparing old and new member states with regard to differences and similarities of attitudinal patterns and defensive reactions when confronted with larger, European and cosmopolitan identities; and (3) investigating micro-processes of collective identity formation within particular groups of society.

The report contains elaborated versions of presentations at the workshop on collective identity formation, staged in Krakow on 26-27 October 2007, in particular presentations on the methodological dimension of the research. Some of the contributions will be elaborated further over the project, for publication in the RECON report series or as working papers or articles.

Table of contents

Introduction

EU Enlargement: Dilemmas of identity
Zdzisław Mach

Transforming European identity: The Central European syndrome
Grzegorz Pożarlik

Research summary - first year: Identity Formation and Enlargement
Magdalena Góra, Maria Heller, Meltem Müftüler-Bac, Jacek Nowak

Part One
Key Issues of Collective Identity Construction with regard to EU Enlargement

Problems of identity and citizenship: Hungary
Maria Heller and Agnes Rényi

The European Union’s Enlargement: Does Culture and Identity Play a Role?
Meltem Müftüler Baç and Evrim Taşkın

Part Two
Enlargement and Identity Changes

National Identity in Quantitative Empirical Surveys
Petra Rakusanova 

Polish public opinion regarding the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe
Olga Brzezińska  

Turkey in Cosmopolis: Turkish Elite Perceptions of a European Project
Nora Fisher  

Migration, European Union and civil society: Research conclusions
Dariusz Niedźwiedzki

Ukrainian minority in Poland: New social reality
Jacek Nowak

The changing importance of identification of German minority in Poland in the context of European integration
Marcin Galent

Women who define their identity through political struggle for gender equality
Paweł Kubicki

Part Three
Introducing Innovative Empirical Methodology in the Identity Analysis  

Identity in focus – and the case of ascribing schizophrenia to Europe and Hungary
Péter Bodor

Rep–test as part of focus research: Overcoming the deficit of understanding in qualitative research on European identity
Jacek H. Kołodziej

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