Support for European Integration and the Changing Geography of Advanced Capitalism

Since the establishment of the European Union the economy of its member states experienced severe restructuring to fit to the needs of advanced capitalism. European regions saw inequalities among them increase due to centripetal forces of the advanced knowledge capitalism. We examine whether the relationship between support for European integration and economic restructuring varies over time as a function of changes in the institutional form and the collective understanding of the EU that these produce as a response to and driver of transformations in the geography of advanced capitalism. Using long-term harmonized data from the Eurobarometer combined with sub-national economic variables from official sources we test the interaction of time, space, and individual demographic characteristics. We find that clear evidence of large-individual effects related to labor-market position, which confirms what we already know, but we also find clear evidence that subnational regional economic conditions matter more. The association between economic conditions and EU attitudes varies according to (a) the changing geography of advanced capitalism, and (b) the changing association in the mind’s eye of the average citizen between the EU, on the one hand, and the changing geography and nature of advanced capitalism, on the other hand.