European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

WHAT MAKES US EUROPEAN? IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN THE ... 179We believe that prior to the analysis of the task of educators ananalytical study to be carried out would be to find out what aspectsyoung people identify with being European and to define the factorsby virtue of which the identification as a European could contribute toincreasing the quality and scope of young people´s social and politicallives. Within the field of education it would also be important to spotthe elements that young people want, and which of them can be orshould be supported, as well as what other elements do not exist orare being imposed “externally” and “deliberately”.We ought to highlight the various elements of psychological andideological convergence in young people, the largely shared acceptance ofthe idea of open citizenship (applied to a supranational context) and thedevelopment of a dynamic based on the multiple instances of exchangeand cooperation, until we can see what the state of “we Europeans” (typeof socialization through partial fusion that, according to sociologists, canhave different degrees of intensity) is 13 . Self-identification has evidenteffects on every population, both external (involving the “visible”behaviour of members; for example, applying for a study bursary) andinternal (regarding the reflexive processes in which the person is involved;for example, self-assessment and having certain duties to others).The path to be followed is long and winding. European awarenessmight have to be built step by step, searching for possible reciprocalidentifications for Spaniards and Germans, for Italians and Belgians, etc.Problems involved in the construction of european identityin the field of educationEuropean nations struggle to establish a social contract based oneveryone’s acceptance of a minimum amount of value-representations anda minimum of contracts and rules. This cultural nucleus is to be articulatedconsidering every human being as an end in itself and not as a means.In my opinion, Camilleri (1997) 14 contributes two ideas aboutEuropean identity which are essential for the analyses carried out byEuropean experts and schools:13Quote from Georges Gurvich. La vocation actuelle de la sociologie. Paris, PUF,1957, P. 131: “ An ‘us’ (us the French, us union activists, us students, etc.) whichgathers the plurality of its members into an unyielding whole, an indivisible unit whereit tends to be immanent in its parts and the parts tend to be immanent in the whole”.14Camilleri, C (1997). Problématique de la construction d´une appartenanceeuropéenne, in C. Tapia, Dynamiques et transitions en Europe. Approche pluridisciplinaire,Berne, P. Lang, Euroclio, pp. 161-167.