Critical social theory approaches to European integration

Abstract

Critical Social Theory (CST), in its broadest sense, is a transdisciplinary approach to the social sciences that applies critique to the status quo in order to emancipate humans and the planet from the negative consequences of modernity. The development of CST as a critical theoretical approach to European integration grew through the 1990s, with an increasing concern for understanding and challenging the social production of knowledge; for historicising and contextualising subjectivity; and a commitment to progress and emancipation as the goals of research. The chapter examines in more detail a selection of contributions that CST has made to the understanding of European integration. These contributions demonstrate both the transdisciplinary and holistic approach of CST by asking questions and demanding answers that open up European integration to historical context, political consequences, and public scrutiny beyond disciplinary domains. The chapter reflects on being critical of the critical, before arguing how CST imagines ‘another Europe is possible’. (Less)