European Society: Does It Exist and Is It Conceivable?

There are several reasons why the EU cannot be regarded a nation state. First, it does not regard itself a state. Second, it lacks citizens as no European citizenship exists. Third, it does not have a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force on its territory. Fourth, the union is structured differently as compared to nation states. While the latter, as the social contract theory suggests, were established following a contract of all people with all people, the former was a result of a treaty signed not by people but by sovereign nation states. As the EU is not a nation state, it is possible to claim that no European society can exist until the EU becomes a nation state or is substituted by it.

Two questions were discussed in the essay: whether there is a European society and whether it can exist. In the first section, the concept of “society” was briefly discussed, with several criteria identified. The second section analyzed the current state of affairs in the EU based on these criteria. The analysis suggests that it is impossible to claim that a European society exists. The third section investigated whether a European society can exist. It was demonstrated that it is also unlikely to exist as the EU is not a nation state, which is a prerequisite for society existence, while the contemporary processes and social life are poorly described by the notion of society as “gesellschaft”.

The notion of “society” was elaborated on in the 19^th century. It was coined to grasp the ongoing changes: the Industrial Revolution, the proliferation of capitalism, the rise of the nation-state, urbanisation, the emergence of mass social movements etc. It was conceived both as the object of research (e.g. Durkheim, 2014) and as a concept to describe the mode of human interactions (e.g. Tönnies, 2012). Different social scientists had diverging conceptualizations of society.

In this text, we will use both the concept of “gesellschaft”, which is marked by impersonal relations, the industrial economy of capitalism, the nation-state, urbanization and rational bureaucratic apparatus, and an entity in a Durkheimean (sui generis) and Parsonsian way. In order to identify the criteria we could employ to evaluate whether a European society exists, we would use the AGIL paradigm suggested by Parsons (2013) as well as some other criteria discussed by Shils (1972). The AGIL paradigm suggests that society striving to survive should have institutions performing four functions (Ritzer, Smart (2000)): adaptation (performed by economy), goal-attainment (performed by political sphere), latency (performed by family, education system and cultural system) and integration (performed by law and informal norms). Shills (1972) states that society should, among other things, have its territory, borders and central authorities that are superior to any other centres of power within the given territory, as well as a shared identity.

Does European society exist?