The Euro crisis has revealed severe conflicts between EU member states and challenged a shared European identity. This article investigates how the crisis was reflected in identity constructions in media discourses in EU key countries. European identity construction is conceptualized as framing of the EU in favour or against belonging to the EU and togetherness with other members. Conducting a systematic content analysis of two weekly newspapers and magazines in Germany, France and the UK, we compare identity constructions between 2011 and 2014. Findings show that while support of belonging to the EU is low in general, the countries differ remarkably in terms of their sense of togetherness. This particularly applies to strong or weak political integration, market regulation or market freedom and financial stability or impulses for economic growth. The positions reflect long-term political conflicts between the countries but are also flexible enough to adapt to the particular event context.
(2009) Identity as a variable. In: AbdelalRHerreraYMJohnstonAI, et al.eds) In: Measuring Identity. A Guide for Social Scientists, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 17–32.
2.
BeckU (2013) German Europe, Cambridge: Polity Press.
3.
BenfordRDSnowDA (2000) Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology26: 611–639.
4.
BörzelTARisseT (2018) From the euro to the Schengen crises: European integration theories, politicization, and identity politics. Journal of European Public Policy25(1): 83–108.
5.
BrubakerRCooperF (2000) Beyond “identity.”. Theory and Society29(1): 1–47.
6.
BruellCMokreM (2009) Radical democracy and European debates. In: BruellCMokreMPauschM (eds) Democracy Needs Dispute. The Debate on the European Constitution, Frankfurt A.M.: Campus, pp. 23–43.
de WildeP (2011) No polity for old politics? A framework for analyzing the politicization of European integration. Journal of European Integration33(5): 559–575.
9.
DelantyGRumfordC (2005) Rethinking Europe. Social theory and the implications of Europeanization, London: Routledge.
10.
Díez Medrano J (2003) Framing Europe. Attitudes to European Integration in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
11.
Díez Medrano J and Gray E (2010) Framing the European Union in national public spheres. In: Koopmans R and Statham P (eds) The Making of a European Public Sphere. Media Discourse and Political Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 195–219.
12.
Eilders C and Lichtenstein D (2010) Diskursive Konstruktionen von Europa. Eine Integration von øfentlichkeits- und Identittsforschung. Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft 58(2): 190–207.
13.
Eilders C and Lüter A (2000) Research Note: Germany at War. Competing Framing Strategies in German Public Discourse. European Journal of Communication 15(3): 415–428.
14.
EisenstadtSNGiesenB (1995) The construction of collective identity. European Journal of Sociology26(1): 72–102.
15.
EntmanRM (1993) Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication43(4): 51–58.
FerreeMMGamsonWAGerhardsJ, et al.2002) Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
GalpinC (2017) The Euro Crisis and European Identities: Political and Media Discourse in Germany, Ireland and Poland, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillian.
19.
GrandeEKriesiH (2015) The reconstructuring of political conflict in Europe and the politicization of European integration. In: RisseT (ed) European Public Spheres, Politics Is Back, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 190–223.
20.
HabermasJ (2006) Political communication in media society: Does democracy still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research. Communication Theory16(4): 411–426.
21.
HeppAElslerMLingenbergS, et al.2016) The Communicative Construction of Europe. Cultures of Political Discourse, Public Sphere and the Euro Crisis, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
22.
HoggMAMcGartyC (1990) Self-categorization and social identity. In: AbramsD (ed) Social Identity Theory: Constructive and Critical Advances, New York, NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 10–27.
KainaV (2013) How to reduce disorder in European identity research. European Political Science12(2): 184–196.
25.
KainaVKuhnS (2013) Building ‘us’ and constructing ‘them’. Mass European identity building and the problem of inside-outside definitions. In: KainaVKarolewskiIPKuhnS (eds) European Identity Revisited. New Approaches and Recent Empirical Evidence, London: Routledge, pp. 218–245.
26.
KoopmansRErbeJMeyerMF (2010) The Europeanization of the public sphere. Comparisons across issues, time, and countries. In: KoopmansRStathamP (eds) The Making of a European Public Sphere. Media Discourse and Political Contention, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 63–96.
27.
Lichtenstein D (2016) Schweizer Konstruktionen europäischer Identität im Vergleich. Eine Analyse nationaler Mediendiskurse zu Erweiterungen und Vertiefungen der EU. Studies in Communication Science 16(1): 8–18.
28.
Lichtenstein D (2014) Europäische Identitäten. Eine vergleichende Untersuchung der Medienöffentlichkeiten ost-und westeuropäischer EU-Länder. Konstanz: UVK.
29.
Lichtenstein D and Eilders C (2015) Konstruktionen europäischer Identität in den medialen Debatten zur EU-Verfassung. Ein inhaltsanalytischer Vergleich von fünf EU-Staaten. Publizistik 60(3): 277–303.
30.
LiuJHLászlóJ (2007) A narrative theory of history and identity. Social identity, social representations, society, and the individual. In: MoloneyGWalkerI (eds) Social Representations and Identity. Content, Process and Power, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 85–107.
31.
MarquesJMYzerbytVYLeyensJ (1988) The ‘black sheep effect’: Extremity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of group identification. European Journal of Social Psychology18: 1–16.
32.
MautnerG (1995) How does one become a good European? The British press and European integration. Discourse and Society6(2): 177–205.
33.
NienstedtHKepplingerHMQuiringO (2015) What went wrong and why? Roots, responsibilities, and solutions of the Euro crisis in European newspapers. In: PicardRG (ed) The Euro Crisis in the Media. Journalistic Coverage of Economic Crisis and European Institutions, London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 19–44.
ReeseSD (2007) The framing project: A bridging model for media research revisited. Journal of Communication57: 148–154.
36.
RisseT (2010) A Community of Europeans? Transnational Identities and Public Sphere, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
37.
(2015) European public spheres, the politicization of EU affairs, and its consequences. In: RisseT (ed) European Public Spheres. Politics Is Back, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 141–164.
SchmittHHoboltSBPopaSA (2015) Does personalization increase turnout Spitzenkandidaten in the 2014 European Parliament elections. European Union Politics16(3): 347–368.
41.
SeidendorfS (2007) Europäisierung nationaler Identitätsdiskurse? Ein Vergleich französischer und deutscher Printmedien, Baden-Baden: Nomos.
42.
StathamPTrenzH (2015) Understanding the mechanisms of EU politicization: Lessons from the Eurozone crisis. Comparative European Politics13(3): 287–306.
43.
TaylorVWhittierN (1995) Collective identity in social movement communities: Lesbian feminist mobilization. In: MorrisADMuellerCM (eds) Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements. Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 104–129.
TouriMRogersSL (2013) Europe’s communication deficit and the UK press: Framing the Greek financial crisis. Journal of Contemporary European Studies21(2): 175–189.
46.
TriandafyllidouAWodakRKrż yanowskiM (2009) The European Public Sphere and the Media. Europe in Crisis, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
47.
van de SteegM (2006) Does a public sphere exist in the European Union? An analysis of the content of the debate on the Haider case. European Journal of Political Research45(4): 609–634.
WenzelMMummendeyAWeberU, et al.2003) The ingroup as pars pro toto: Projection from the ingroup onto the inclusive category as a precursor to social discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin29(4): 461–473.
50.
WesslerH (2008) Investigating deliberativeness comparatively. Political Communication25(1): 1–22.
51.
WesslerHPetersBBrüggemannM, et al.2008) Transnationalization of Public Spheres, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
