Reproduction of the Patterns of Interstate Power Relations in the Conceptions of 15-year-old Students in EU Countries: The Persistence of Prejudice

Answers to the Youth and History survey by students from the EU countries show that they strongly follow the ideas promoted by each country's, as well as the EU's, authorities on peace and collaboration among nation-states. These ideas are nevertheless contradicted by the students' pronounced ethnocentrism, which makes them strongly identify with their own nation's interest, even when this involves the use of military force. The findings of this survey thus show that the ideal of European integration and harmony is overridden and overdetermined by the nationalist ideologies of the past century still prevalent in schools. These ideologies generate a fear of the dangers assumed to threaten national cultures, because of the cultural contact brought about by European integration. This fear appears strong in the mind of all students, including the ones belonging to the wealthier, bigger, and leading EU countries. This article suggests that these findings underline the need for educational authorities in all EU countries to consider seriously what happens when nineteenthth-century ideas on nations, national interest, and national culture combine with the present inequalities and conflicts of interest among various groups within each EU nation-state, as well as among them. The article concludes that the prejudiced social knowledge that now frames teaching in EU schools largely serves to reproduce the patterns of traditional power relations among European groups and is in strong need of replacement.