European integration by daylight

Abstract:

It has become common to highlight the desirability of a more 'politicised' European Union (EU) so as to counter the low visibility of its policymaking and the disaffection this may breed. Endorsing this view, the article argues existing contributions to the topic tend to give insufficient attention to the relationship between institutional settings and everyday life, and to underplay the significance of how political actors interpret and reproduce the social and political world.

The article explores how one might reconsider these questions, drawing on some of the insights of cultural and pragmatic sociology to suggest that the important obstacles to further politicisation may be rooted in contemporary political culture. A contribution is thereby intended both to the topic in question and to a wider effort to supplement institutional perspectives in EU studies with those drawn from sociology.

This article is part of the special issue 'Mainstreaming sociology in EU studies'.