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The effect of supranational identity on cultural values in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2015

Galina M. Zapryanova  and
Lena Surzhko-Harned
Galina M. Zapryanova*
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Lena Surzhko-Harned
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Mercyhurst University, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Does supranational identity have an independent effect on individuals’ beliefs about culturally contested issues in their national systems? This article demonstrates that self-categorization in the supranational realm – a seemingly unrelated category to domestic value cleavages – has implications for individuals’ views on cultural issues. Traditional theories of international norm diffusion focus almost exclusively on state-level interactions, but our findings provide further evidence to the existence of a more direct mechanism through which norms reach some citizens. A sense of identification with a supranational entity such as Europe makes citizens more likely to espouse the views and opinions promoted by supranational organizations. We use the European Values Study to examine whether supranational identity is associated with socially liberal preferences. Results from the multi-level models indicate that supranational identity exerts a systematic effect on attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and gender equality. Additionally, while these effects are more consistent in EU member states, supranational identity exhibits a similar impact on social attitudes in non-EU countries such as those in the former Soviet Union.

Keywords

supranational identityLGBT rightsgender equality
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 547 - 566
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2015 

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