Constructing Common Cultures: The Ontological and Normative Dimensions of Law in the European Union and Mercosur

• Author: Francesco Duina,Nathan Breznau
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0386.00166
• Date: 01 December 2002
• Published date: 01 December 2002

Constructing Common Cultures:

The Ontological and Normative

Dimensions of Law in the

European Union and Mercosur

Francesco Duina and Nathan Breznau*

Abstract: Existing research suggests that the European Union (EU) has avoided the

formal construction of a supranational culture. Theories in economic sociology predict

that market building should entail the concomitant articulation of basic cultural material,

above all of ontological and normative notions about the world. In this article we con®rm

that the EU has formally engaged in cultural construction. Through its system of

secondary laws, the EU has in fact produced complex webs of ontological notions

about the essence of objects, activities and agents, and of normative notions about the

desirability of various situations. Analysis of the content of EU directives and regulations

in the areas of working conditions, ¯ora and fauna, and honey supports this claim.

Analysis of national reactions and cultural contexts highlights the salience and distinc-

tiveness of the emerging supranational culture. Evidence that Mercosur too has engaged

in the production of ontological and normative notions suggests that, in line with the

expectations of economic sociology, the EU is not unique, though the two markets can

construct dierent notions when addressing identical subject matters. The implications of

the ®ndings for European enlargement and the comparative study of common markets are

discussed.

I Introduction

European Union (EU) scholars agree that the EU has taken few formal initiatives to

construct a supranational culture, or a general system of values and beliefs to interpret

and act in the world (Delgado-Moreira, 2000). Only in 1993, with Article 151 TEU,

did culture appear as an ocial area of EU competence. Article 151's broad objectives,

such as encouraging `knowledge and communication of the culture and history of the

European peoples,' are vague. No directive or regulation appears in the EU legal

database under the category of culture.

1

The most signi®cant initiatives are three

cultural programmes (known as Kaleidoscope, Ariane, and Raphael) undertaken

European Law Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4, December 2002, pp. 574±595.

#Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2002, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

1

Eur-Lex (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/consleg/index.html) is the ocial directory of EU legislation in

force. It is organised around twenty broad topics. `Science, information, education, and culture'

constitutes the sixteenth.

* Department of Sociology, Bates College, Lewistown ME, USA. An early version of this article was

presented at the 13th International Conference of Europeanists in Chicago, March 2002.

between 1996 and 1999, and their continuation in the form of a programme called

Culture 2000. These initiatives, however, promote only high culture, such as artistic

and intellectual endeavours. More basic values and belief systems for every day life

remain, as recently noted by Laan in the Journal of European Public Policy, `under-

developed' (Laan, 2001, p. 722).

Several scholars nonetheless point out that the EU has, through policies and

initiatives unrelated to culture, indirectly promoted general systems of values and

beliefs. Repeated interaction with EU ocials and policies (Collet, 1999; Howe, 1994)

has for instance aected the behavior, style and values of national political elites

(Eatwell, 1997; Schlesinger, 1997; Schmitt, 2000), ultimately engendering a European

political culture. Continuous exposure of national judges to EU law has generated

shared reference frameworks and language, giving rise to a common judicial culture

(Gessner et al., 1996; Weick, 1999). Increased cross-border business contact between

corporate executives has promoted a European business culture (Egan, 1997; Gamir

and Mendez, 2000; Massa, 1993). And economic integration has pressured govern-

ments to adopt similar ethical stances towards drug legalisation, abortion, and alcohol

abuse (Kurzer, 2001).

2

Those who argue that the EU has blocked the rise of a European culture both

formally and indirectly contradict these claims. At the formal level, some note that the

EU's purposely limited and vague backing of a supranational culture precludes the

articulation of more serious policies (Holmes, 2000; Van Campenhoudt, 1997). They

point to Article 151 of the TEU and its open assertion that the EU's main cultural

mission is ultimately to ensure the `¯owering of the cultures of the Member States'.

Indirectly, others claim, EU economic policies and legal activities (Auslander, 2000;

Kourvetaris and Kourvetaris, 1996; Zetterholm, 1994) have rekindled nationalistic

instincts in judicial and political systems (Braselmann, 1996; Hanf and Soetendorp,

1998), collective identities (Morgan, 1996; Neumann, 1998), and social values (Cohen,

1998).

Thus, despite these dierences, most scholars agree on one point: at the formal level,

the EU has done little to promote a supranational European culture. Viewed from the

perspective of economic sociology, this conclusion seems surprising. A fundamental

tenet of economic sociology is that markets require the presence of shared ontological

and normative notions about the world. Ontological notions de®ne the essence of

objects, activities, and actors in society. Normative notions assert the desirability of

certain situations. Together, ontological and normative notions provide interpreta-

tions about the way the world is and should be, and are thus fundamentally cultural.

When the required ontological and normative notions are not present, economic

sociologists expect market actors to create them. The establishment of a single market

across a group of ®fteen countries must have necessitated the systematic articulation

and pronouncement of ocially shared ontological and normative notions. Economic

sociologists would expect the EU to have undertaken such an exercise.

In this article, we oer evidence that the EU has indeed embarked on a signi®cant

formal project of ontological and normative de®nition, and therefore of cultural

production. The main vehicle has been the system of secondary laws of the EUÐthe

December 2002 The Ontological and Normative Dimensions of Law

#Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2002 575

2

Other examples of an emergent European culture resulting from EU activities formally unrelated to

culture include perceptions of the weakened national borders (Calloni and Lutz, 2000; Koser and Lutz,

1998), the rise of `Euro-nationalism' (Hedetoft, 1999) and a European identity (Delgado-Moreira, 1997;

Husband, 1995), the worth of Christian values (Ireland, 1996; O'Sullivan, 2001), and societal notions of

gender (Bruegel, 1996; Cohen, 1998; Duncan and Pfau-Enger, 2000; McDowell, 1997).