The Cultural Values of Europe

In this age of globalization and dissolving borders of national identity, questions about the nature of cultural values and symbolic structures abound, especially for newly integrated communities of political and social power like the European Union. In this international best seller, published for the first time in English, a group of highly acclaimed thinkers and social theorists examine the most important innovations and culturally vital traditions of Europe in order to produce an image of contemporary European self-understanding. Answering important questions on the nature of cultural identity in Europe and whether or not specifically European values exist, these leading European scholars approach topic through both specific cultural traditions (“Athens and Jerusalem”) and the values that they are founded upon (“freedom”). Edited by renowned scholar and University of Chicago professor Hans Joas, the volume features distinguished contributors such as Orlando Patterson, Mark Mazower, and Wolfgang Schluchter, among others, generating an impressively innovative and incisive cultural commentary that is not to be missed by any student of European history, society, and culture.