The Intergenerational Transmission of European Identity: The Role of Gender and Discussion within Families

Abstract

This article shows that while European identity tends to be weak among Europeans, a significant transmission of European identity occurs between parents and their children. Belgian adolescents' conversations with their mothers about the European Union strengthen this transmission process. This indicates that European identity is not a superficial phenomenon, but that it is integrated into the social identity of families. Various authors have already stated that the project of European integration requires development of a stronger sense of European identity among citizens of the European Union Member States. Using insights from social identity theory, it is demonstrated in the paper that salient social identities are being transmitted within families. Analyses of the Parent-Child Socialization Study, conducted among 2,085 Belgian father-mother-child triads, back this conclusion.

Being both – A European and a national citizen? Comparing young people’s identification with Europe and their home country across eight European countries

“…Throughout the adolescent and young adulthood years, regional identifications were found to be highly stabilized (Greischel et al, under review). While the considered age range is often too narrow to draw any conclusions about age differences within the subgroup of young people (e.g., Kerr et al, 2010;Quintelier, Verhaegen, & Hooghe, 2014), results from the Eurobarometer indicated that adolescents (15-19 years) held more positive views about the EU than young adults (25-30 years; European Commission, 2007).…”

“…Besides age, young people's identification was also found to differ by gender. When asked about their views toward Europe, for example, male youth reported higher levels of agreement than their female counterparts, although overall effect sizes remained small (Agirdag, Huyst, & Van Houtte, 2012;Kerr et al, 2010;Quintelier et al, 2014). At the Being both -A European and a national citizen?…”

European Identity and Support for European Integration: A Matter of Perceived Economic Benefits?

“…Identification with the EU can be reinforced by different factors, e.g. socialization, sharing a culture, social or cognitive learning, adhering to the same norms and values or benefiting from a common market (Huyst, ; Laffan, ; Quintelier, Verhaegen & Hooghe, ; Verhaegen, Hooghe & Meeusen, ). These sources of European identity reflect that social identities are both ‘inherited’ (socialization) and ‘reinvented’ (e.g.…”

Falling in love with(in) Europe: European bi-national love relationships, European identification and transnational solidarity

“…First, gender is included as a dichotomous variable (0 = male, 1 = female), as women appear to be less enthusiastic about the European Union compared to men (Nelsen and Guth, 2000). Second, it has been reported that individuals from higher socioeconomic strata are more likely to identify as a European (Citrin and Sides, 2004 We controlled for parental influence since European identity shows to be intergenerationally transmitted (Quintelier et al, 2014). As we do not have direct measures of parents' orientations towards Europe, we used knowledge of foreign languages as a proxy.…”

“…We filtered respondents with a first nationality from a non-EU country out, as such respondents potentially identify in a different way with Europe (Quintelier et al, 2014), as well as respondents that were not eligible because they did not fit the age-criterion of 30-45.…”