Why is identification as European more prevalent among the highly educated than among the less educated?

Abstract

For more than forty years, researchers and pro-European policy makers have puzzled about what leads individuals to identify themselves as Europeans (Belot, 2010; Díez Medrano, 2019). As of 2020, neither policy-makers nor researchers have made as much progress as they would have liked. European identification is certainly prevalent in the population of the European Union, but not as prevalent and deep as national identification. It is also unclear whether this prevalence has anything to do with policies and strategies initiated by European Union institutions. Whereas European symbols and policies have likely failed to create a European demos, researchers have not been much more successful in unearthing major correlates of European identification. However, one of the most consistent findings in the literature is the relationship between education and European identification. More educated individuals identify themselves as European more than less-educated ones do. This working paper is an attempt to clarify the role of Education as a socio-economic variable and the relationship between education and European identification.