CosmoPoles: A Mixed‐methods Study on the European Identity of Higher‐educated Polish Youth

Abstract

Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study investigates the extent to which a European identity has emerged across Europe and what it means to 'be European' for higher-educated Polish youth. The results of a quantitative comparative analysis (multilevel regression analysis on Eurobarometer survey data) are complemented by the results from a qualitative inquiry that was conducted within the framework of the same research project. It is argued that national and European political identifications are not mutually exclusive but rather seem to complement each other (both quantitatively and qualitatively). It is further argued that mixed-methods research designs offer a promising approach to the study of collective identities and Europeanisation.

Asserting the Nation: The Dominance of National Narratives in Policy Influencers’ Constructions of Higher Education Students

“…With respect to Poland, an east-west dichotomy is drawn in the discussion about the employment-focused nature of students but, interestingly, this is by one of the Polish interviewees himself, who appears to position Poland as 'Other' with respect to Western European nations, on the basis of their different economic histories. This particular Polish narrative also reflects points made in the wider literature, and discussed above, about the common peripheral positioning of the nation and its frequent framing in relation to a more economically advanced Western Europe (Góra and Mach, 2010;Moes, 2009).…”

“…However, it does suggest that if policy influencers adopt this kind of lens, they may tend to underplay both commonalities across nation-states and the impact of influences beyond the nation-state -both of which may have consequences for cross-national collaboration and working. Such national narratives also support the contention that, despite claims about the death of the nation-state, it remains the primary unit of societal organisation and continues to shape collective identities in important ways (Moes, 2009).…”

“…Jarausch's (2012) examination of German narratives (discussed later) shows how a dominant Westernisation discourse served systematically to delegitimise the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and failed to address the more positive memories of some East German citizens. Similarly, various scholars have argued that Polish national narratives often assume a peripheral (geographical and political) location, framed primarily in relation to Western Europe (Góra and Mach, 2010;Moes, 2009). Both examples reflect what Bakić-Hayden and Hayden (1992) have referred to as the 'symbolic geography of eastern inferiority' (p. 4).…”

The influence of gender on attitudes towards the EU among the Polish ‘winners of European integration’

“…With this study, I aim to enrich empirical research on gender-generation gaps in EU attitudes with focus on countries that are still described as being part of a somewhat culturally distant post-communist East (Sztompka, 2004). I evaluate members of the generation of Poles who are in the position to ‘create the Europe of the coming few decades’ (Moes, 2008: 13): the well-educated urban youth. This generation is the first in Poland that has no personal experience of living in a communist political system and, instead, is faced with the realities and changes offered by EU membership.…”

The European Tale of Downfall (and Survival)

“…However, we can observe that the support towards the EU remains high in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland (European Commission, 2021; for Poland see also: Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, 2019). A growing number of young Poles embrace Europeanness and cosmopolitanism (Moes, 2009). Generations born in the 1980s and onwards do not clearly remember the socialist times and the period of transition.…”