A Critique of the Criticism of Europe
The Intellectual Perspective on European Integration
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
European integration determines everyday life in Europe. But there is little intellectual criticism of it, for all of the simple perspectives have already been taken. If intellectuals praise the EU for peace and prosperity, then they merge with the European elites. If they criticise concrete forms and consequences of EU policy, they risk disappearing between the apprehension of the people and its exploitation by populists. An intellectual criticism that is divested of society in the same way as critical theory ends up ensnarled in the positions of other actors for that very reason. Only a sociology of criticism that conveys social fears in formal constitutive ideas can provide the basis for an intellectual perspective.
(Osteuropa 7/2007, pp. 3–12)