Representations of Social Europe

Two main political and economic paradigms have framed the Social Europe so far. The first one has consisted in the (German) “ordoliberalism”, which has played a key role in structuring the foundations of the European Community as well as those of the Monetary Union. The other and more recent one is the so called “Social Investment Strategy” ” recently endorsed by the European Commission. Both normative frameworks have been also at the heart of the responses formulated at the European level to the euro crisis. Therefore, they have had decisive consequences on the current social situation in the Economic and Monetary Union. This paper uses a theoretical and methodological framework, that combine Weltanschauungen (or doxai), principles and norms, for analyzing models of representations of social facts. This grid of analysis is used to understand what has happened to the Social Europe in the wake of the current Eurozone crisis and to formulate some alternatives. .