A political sociology of the European Union : reassessing constructivism
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
A political sociology of the European Union : reassessing constructivism
(Europe in change)
Manchester University Press , Distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
- : hardback
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The study of the European Union has historically been a theoretical battleground. Since the 1990s, new theoretical directions such as neo-institutionalism, multi-level governance and constructivism have provided a new impetus. However, despite these new inroads, empirical work has often remained sociologically and empirically underspecified. This volume seeks to bridge the gap between theory and fieldwork by developing an actor-centred political sociology. In doing so, the volume engages in a critical dialogue with the constructivist framework and proposes to build on its insights through a sociological hardening centred on European actors.
The renewal of European studies through political sociology is only useful if it generates new understandings through empirical observation. This volume seeks to take a new tack on constructivism by asking what it is that Europe constructs by looking at three areas- social spaces and professions, policy 'problems' and policies and policy instruments such as the Eurobarometer. -- .
Table of Contents
Preface: Revitalising EU studies through constructivism - Andy Smith
Introduction: What Europe constructs: towards a sociological constructivism - Michel Mangenot & Jay Rowell
Part I: The construction of European fields
1. Making top civil servants: Europeaness as an identity and a resource - Marine de Lassalle & Didier Georgakakis
2. The invention and transformation of a governmental body: the Council Secretariat - Michel Mangenot
3. Lawyers as Europe's middlemen: a sociology of litigants pleading before the European Court of Justice (1954-1978) - Christele Marchand & Antoine Vauchez
4. The emergence of 'European' careers in sub-national French administrations - Marine de Lassalle
Part II: The social construction of European problems
5. Constitutional activism and fundamental rights in Europe: common interests through transnational socialisation - Laurent Scheeck
6. The construction of a European interest through legal expertise: property owners associations and the Charter of Fundamental Rights - Helene Michel
7. A constructivist-institutionalist approach to EU Politics: the case of Protected Geographical Indications for Food - Andy Smith
8. The European Parliament and the politicisation of the European space: the case of the two port packages - Willy Beauvallet
Part III: Constructing reality through policy instruments
9. From integration by law to Europeanisation by numbers: the making of a 'competitive Europe' through intergovernmental benchmarking - Isabelle Bruno
10. From an instrument to the instrumentalisation of 'European opinion' - Philippe Aldrin
11. Expert measurement in the government of Lifelong Learning - Romuald Normand
12. The instrumentation of European disability policy: constructing a policy field with numbers - Jay Rowell
Index -- .
by "Nielsen BookData"