The project identifies EU discourses on European integration focusing on different understandings of culture and raises the question of whether the described problems and proposed solutions could not be explained equally or, perhaps, more plausibly within the context of the late capitalist market economy. The research design is based on the thesis that relevant discourses on economic and power relations are superseded due to culturalization. This thesis does not, however, imply a general primacy of the economy or the over-determination of all social conflicts by class antagonism.
The project will focus on the following discourses:
Culturalized discourses on political unity:
These discourses are interpreted as hegemonic struggles of the EU in discourses on cultural identity traditionally linked to national cultures. From the “economized” perspective of the project, the necessity of a collective cultural identity for an (inter alia: economically) successful political system is emphasized.
Culturalized discourses on socio-economic inequality:
This part of the project deals, above all, with culturalized understandings of the problematic consequences of immigration and the political solutions for these problems. The counter discourse of the project interprets these problems in an economic way, thereby asking about the economic benefits gained from emphasizing cultural diversity instead of socio-economic inequality.
Culturalized discourses on economic structures:
Here the focus lies on discourses on the “Cultural and Creative Industries” and their economic functions.
The project will be started during a fellowship at the Cluster of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Integration” of the University of Konstanz and will result in a monograph.
Information
Head of Project:
Monika Mokre
Funding:
ÖAW/ Fellowship at the Exzellenzcluster "Kultuelle Grundlagen von Integration", University of Konstanz)
Duration:
2011/05/01 – 2014/08/31