The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Public Opinion towards the European Union

The chapter has three sections. I will explain three main theories of public opinion towards the EU, first, economic theory; second, social identity theory, and third, political cue theory.

There are many researches with aim to explain public opinion towards the EU. There are many theories, approaches, explanations etc. For example, De Vreese and Boomgaarden talked (grouped according to the knowledge of the authors’ studies) about cognitive mobilization, utilitarian and economic considerations, satisfaction with the incumbent government, social demographic characteristics and political-ideological preferences, and considerations of national identity. Gabel offered five theories – cognitive mobilization, political values, utilitarian (economic) appraisals of integrative policy, class partisanship and support for government.

However, from the above mentioned there are tree main theories or explanations for understanding public opinion, support and attitudes towards the European Union as Hooge and Marks suggested. Authors talked about economic theory, social identity theory and political cue theory. “These approaches conceive the European Union in contrasting ways. Economic theories view the EU as a regime that facilitates economic exchange, with profound distributional consequences for individuals arising from differences in asset mobility and for countries arising from varieties of capitalism. Social identity theory conceives of the European Union as a polity overarching established territorial communities, and considers how public opinion is constrained by citizens’ conceptions of their identities. Cue theory regards the European Union as an extension of domestic politics, and infers that public attitudes are therefore guided by domestic ideology and domestic political organizations.” Each of mentioned theories I will explain closer further in the paper
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