Author Description

Product Description This book investigates the European Union as an object of the social sciences. Although its main direction is to discuss different dimensions of the EU project and the direction of its development, it also reflects the state of the social sciences in this development. Accordingly, the book is structured to take into consideration «modernist», «critical» and «culturalist» perspectives. Given this frame the contributions by individual authors deliver a wide range of insights into the EU project, insights which often point to aspects hidden, rarely mentioned or not at all recognized in the official discourse about the EU. Besides, attention is raised for the precarious cognitive situation of the social sciences in times of rapid societal transformation. About the Author The Editor: Josef Langer is Professor of Sociology at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria). He has held functions in the International Sociological Association (ISA) and in the Austrian Sociological Association, acted as consultant for research units and governmental institutions, at universities in Finland, India, Italy, Japan, the Czech Republic, and the USA as visiting professor. His current fields of research include European transformation, knowledge society and cross-cultural management with numerous publications in German, English, Japanese, Italian, Romanian and Russian.