The relation between political and cultural identity approaches and the question of multiple identities

(Iris Glockner, University of Mannheim)

The object of the paper is to apply approaches of political as well as cultural identities as a theoretical framework to the question of why some people can reconcile European and national identities, while others display exclusive identities. In contrast to previous research which mainly treated each national and European identity as unified variables, it is argued that a distinction between the political and cultural quality of both types of identities has to be made in order to better understand the incidence of multiple identities. Advocates of a political conceptualization of identity emphasize the compatibility of national and European identities, whereas advocates of a cultural understanding of identity posit that the relation between the types of identities is a zero sum game. However, the paper will present arguments that will already cast doubt on the conceptual equation of political identity with multiple identities and cultural identity with exclusive identities. Accordingly, a research design will be proposed that could shed light on the preceding questions.