EUROPEISK SAMHÖRIGHET I VARDAGSRUMMET?

Abstract

When Eurovision Song Contest first aired in 1956, it was one of the Eurovision-programmes with the aim to unite Europe during the Cold War. ESC is supposed to bring countries together by, for example, uniting people by music. On the other hand, the participating countries compete against each other, which is identified by previous research as obstacles to the feeling of European belonging. Previous ESC research has identified this as an paradox. The aim of this study is to explore viewers’ feeling of European belonging while watching ESC and whether the paradox is present among Swedish ESC viewers. The study also investigates if attitude towards European integration and view of ESC have impact on European belonging. This is done by analysing survey data collected for this study with three linear regression analysis, one for each hypothesis. The results show that a feeling of European belonging and Swedish belonging while watching ESC correlates positively, supporting both the idea of the ESC paradox and coexisting identities. It is also found that attitude towards European integration have some impact on feeling European belonging while watching ESC, and viewing ESC as primarily a contest between countries is not necessarily an obstacle for European belonging. The results must however be interpreted with caution because of the low number of respondents and the skewed distribution between different groups of respondents.