Abstract
In this chapter, the author discusses some of the intellectual tools that sociology can mobilize in the analysis of European Union (EU) politics, and then follows with a closer investigation of some sociological research. To illustrate EU politics, this chapter concentrates on the European Parliament, the most democratic European institution. The author contrasts the sociological approach and its advantages with more traditional research in political science and international relations. European integration has provided new objects of analysis for sociologists. Some focus on the EU as a new polity. Others have developed a more specific approach that has been labeled structural constructivist. This perspective highlights the general and specific structures of power and competition that keep societies together by analyzing individual and group action.
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