Rethinking Europe

1    Theorizing Europeanization

Towards a constructivist theory of society

In recent years Europe has become an object of research and consciousness, but it has not been adequately theorized. Given the number of studies that now refer to Europe this may appear to be an extreme claim. Current theorizing on Europeanization is primarily concerned with conceptualizing the emerging shape of the European polity (see Chryssochoou, 2001b; Wiener and Diez, 2004). Missing from the existing literature is a concern with European society, that is with the cultural presuppositions and societal structures and processes by which social relations are constituted. Although social and cultural issues are coming to play an increasingly prominent role in studies ...