Politics of tangibility, intangibility, and place in the making of a European cultural heritage in EU heritage policy

Lähdesmäki, Tuuli

doi:10.1080/13527258.2016.1212386

Cited by 76 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The increasing cultural homogeneity within the EU provides empirical evidence that the third wave of European integration -a cultural one -is already underway (Lahdesmaki 2016), regardless of whether it results from EU institutions' efforts or is simply a by-product of integration in other spheres. First, it contributes to the literature on European integration, particularly the no-demos thesis and the debates on the relevance of cultural value similarity for EU integration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, it adds to cross-cultural research on societal value change, strengthening diffusion theories in addition to modernisation and culturalist theories (e.g., clash of civilisations). The increasing cultural homogeneity within the EU provides empirical evidence that the third wave of European integration -a cultural one -is already underway (Lahdesmaki 2016), regardless of whether it results from EU institutions' efforts or is simply a by-product of integration in other spheres. The direction of convergence is clearly from new member states toward old member states, which supports the notion of vertical diffusion based on world polity (Meyer et al 1997) and institutional isomorphism theories (DiMaggio & Powell 1983), as well as directional cultural diffusion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The EU has proven to be transformative regarding national economies and political institutions, but we do not know whether it has the potential to gradually reduce the cultural gaps between its member states. Some scholars claim that culture has become the focus of the 'third wave' of European integration, which aims to strengthen European identity and increase legitimacy by transcending the idea of shared values and a common cultural heritage (Lahdesmaki 2016). The binding force of EU legislation and the enormous budget at the Union's disposal have the potential to exert a considerable influence on the European continent's cultural development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

Akaliyski

2018

European J Political Res

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The European Union (EU) is considered to be a unique economic and political union that integrates most European countries. This article focuses on the cultural aspect of European integration, which has been increasingly debated over the course of deepening and widening integration and in the context of the legitimation crisis of the EU. Among the main goals of the EU is to promote certain values, which raises the question of whether it has been efficient in (or enabled) reducing cultural value gaps among the participating countries. World polity and institutional isomorphism theories suggest that cultural values may trickle down in a vertical manner from the institutions of the EU to its member states and candidates. Furthermore, hybridisation theory postulates that values diffuse horizontally through intensified interactions enabled by the EU. These two perspectives imply the possibility of cultural convergence among countries associated with the EU. By contrast, the culture clash thesis assumes that differences in cultural identity prevent value convergence across countries; growing awareness of such differences may even increase the pre‐existing cultural value distances. To test these different scenarios, distances in emancipative and secular values are compared across pairs of countries using combined repeated cross‐sectional data from the European Values Study and the World Values Survey gathered between 1992 and 2011. This study finds that the longer a country has been part of the EU, the more closely its values approximate those of the EU founding countries, which in turn are the most homogenous. Initial cultural distance to the founders’ average values appears irrelevant to acquiring membership or candidacy status. However, new member states experienced substantial cultural convergence with old member states after 1992, as did current candidates between 2001 and 2008. Since 1992, nations not participating in the integration process have diverged substantially from EU members, essentially leading to cultural polarisation in Europe. The findings are independent of (changes in) economic disparities and suggest the importance of cultural diffusion as one of the fundamental mechanisms of cultural change. This empirical study contributes to the literature on European integration, political and sociological theories of globalisation, and cross‐cultural theories of societal value change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

Akaliyski

2018

European J Political Res

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“…Second, cultural homogeneity within the EU increased primarily between 1992 and 2008. This provides empirical evidence that the third wave of European integration-a cultural one-is already underway (Lahdesmaki 2016), regardless of whether this is the result of efforts of EU institutions or simply a by-product of integration in other spheres.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The EU has proven transformative of national economies and political institutions, but we do not know whether it has the potential to gradually reduce the cultural gaps between its member states. Some scholars claim that culture has become the focus of the "third wave" of European integration, which aims to strengthen European identity and increase legitimacy by transcending the idea of shared values and a common cultural heritage (Lahdesmaki 2016). "The EU not only has an interest to further this congruence, but is also in a unique position to do so" (Gerhards et al 2009: 517).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

United in Diversity? The Consolidation of Cultural Values among EU Member States and Candidates

Akaliyski¹

2018

Preprint

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The European Union (EU) is considered a unique economic and political union that integrates most European countries. This article focuses on the cultural aspect of European integration, which has been increasingly debated over the course of deepening and widening integration and in the context of the legitimation crisis of the EU. Among the main goals of the EU is to promote certain values, which raises the question of whether it has been efficient in (or enabled) reducing cultural value gaps among the participating countries. World polity and institutional isomorphism theories suggest that cultural values may trickle down in a vertical manner from the institutions of the EU to its member states and candidates. Furthermore, hybridization theory postulates that values diffuse horizontally through intensified interactions enabled by the EU. These two perspectives imply the possibility of cultural convergence among countries associated with the EU. By contrast, the culture clash thesis assumes that differences in cultural identity prevent value convergence across countries; growing awareness of such differences may even increase the pre-existing cultural value distances. To test these different scenarios, I compare distances in emancipative and secular values across pairs of countries (Welzel 2013) using combined repeated cross-sectional data from the EVS and WVS gathered between 1992 and 2011. I find that the longer a country has been part of the EU, the more closely its values approximate those of the EU founding countries, which in turn are the most homogenous. Initial cultural distance to the founders’ average values appears irrelevant to acquiring membership or candidacy status. However, new member states experienced substantial cultural convergence with old member states after 1992, as did current candidates between 2001 and 2008. Since 1992, nations not participating in the integration process have diverged substantially from EU members, essentially leading to cultural polarization in Europe. The findings are independent of (changes in) economic disparities and suggest the importance of cultural diffusion as one of the fundamental mechanisms of cultural change. This empirical study contributes to the literature on European integration, political and sociological theories of globalization, and cross-cultural theories of societal value change.

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Cultural Heritage Tourism

Adie

2024

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism

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Politics of tangibility, intangibility, and place in the making of a European cultural heritage in EU heritage policy

Cited by 76 publications

References 37 publications

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

United in Diversity? The Consolidation of Cultural Values among EU Member States and Candidates

Cultural Heritage Tourism

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