TY - JOUR
T1 - Scholars as European public intellectuals? Media interventions in the 2014 European Parliament election campaign
AU - with support from Constantin Brissaud, Eric Brun, Veronika Frantová, Barbara Grüning, Adrian Hatos, Marcus Morgan, Mark Ørsten, Constantinos Saravakos, Rob Timans and Ida Willig
AU - Duller, Matthias
AU - Korom, Philipp
AU - Schögler, Rafael Y.
AU - Fleck, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2018/3/15
Y1 - 2018/3/15
N2 - This paper presents results from a collaborative research project investigating European scholars from the social sciences and humanities (SSH) who acted as public intellectuals during the 2014 European Parliament (EP) election campaign. We analyze op-ed contributions published in 21 broadsheet newspapers and in 9 EU member states, written by 195 authors who contributed 262 articles. The result is a portrait of European SSH scholars acting as public intellectuals. It shows a clear overrepresentation of male authors of advanced age. Academic reputation and public prestige show an east–west divide, with prominent authors prevalently publishing in renowned “West European” newspapers. Disciplinary background offers the most noticeable differentiations. Political scientists are most active, however, predominantly publishing in domestic settings. By contrast, economists reach out to a wider international audience and write explicitly on EU matters, while intervening sociologists and philosophers, as the most senior intellectuals, examine Europe in its wider international and historical context. Correspondence analysis comprising the content of public interventions, and key characteristics of all contributors, suggests that even during the EU electoral campaign, scholars from the SSH do not necessarily contribute to the rise of a European public sphere, as their interventions are more domestic than European in focus.
AB - This paper presents results from a collaborative research project investigating European scholars from the social sciences and humanities (SSH) who acted as public intellectuals during the 2014 European Parliament (EP) election campaign. We analyze op-ed contributions published in 21 broadsheet newspapers and in 9 EU member states, written by 195 authors who contributed 262 articles. The result is a portrait of European SSH scholars acting as public intellectuals. It shows a clear overrepresentation of male authors of advanced age. Academic reputation and public prestige show an east–west divide, with prominent authors prevalently publishing in renowned “West European” newspapers. Disciplinary background offers the most noticeable differentiations. Political scientists are most active, however, predominantly publishing in domestic settings. By contrast, economists reach out to a wider international audience and write explicitly on EU matters, while intervening sociologists and philosophers, as the most senior intellectuals, examine Europe in its wider international and historical context. Correspondence analysis comprising the content of public interventions, and key characteristics of all contributors, suggests that even during the EU electoral campaign, scholars from the SSH do not necessarily contribute to the rise of a European public sphere, as their interventions are more domestic than European in focus.
KW - European Parliament election
KW - European public sphere
KW - Social sciences and humanities
KW - experts
KW - media commentary
KW - professors
KW - public intellectuals
KW - scholars
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85038109788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14616696.2017.1402119
DO - 10.1080/14616696.2017.1402119
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85038109788
SN - 1461-6696
VL - 20
SP - 322
EP - 353
JO - European Societies
JF - European Societies
IS - 2
ER -