‘Bursting the Brussels Bubble’: Using Ethnography to Explore the European Parliament as a Transnational Political Field

Abstract

This article explores what ethnography can tell us about the practice of politics inside the European Parliament (EP). It responds to calls from within the discipline for a more sociological approach to the EU institutions and research which makes the real world of politics visible. The paper argues that an ethnographic methodology coupled with a Bourdieusian theoretical framework enables deeper exploration of the everyday practice of politics by individual MEPs and therefore a more nuanced understanding of political behaviour within this institutional context. First, it identifies the gap to which it hopes to contribute, discusses the growing sociological literature of the EU, and introduces ethnography. Then it discusses Bourdieu's structural constructivism and outlines relevant thinking tools, with particular reference to Adler-Nissen's work. The paper then applies the theoretical framework to data gathered through ethnographic fieldwork and elite interviews, aiming to open up the black-box and illuminate practices occurring inside. The EP is conceptualised as a transnational political field with a system of positions and power relations, where doxa operates beneath a habitus of dispositions, and where actors employ their position and capital in strategies to influence what is at stake in the game.

Keywords:

• European Parliament
• ethnography
• structural constructivism
• Bourdieu
• transnational political field
• institutional identity
• co-ordinators

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council doctoral funding scheme [grant number: ES/I/900934/1].