Abstract

The article develops a perspective on Europeanization and employee involvement centered on social agents. It assesses its contribution to the understanding of both the making of an EU political field at the top and the emergence of European social fields at the bottom. This perspective, intellectually informed by post-determinist institutional thinking, provides a way to deepen existing analysis on the variety of employee involvement’s practices and its contribution to Europeanization by embedding sociological aspects in European political-institutional study. By using an actor-centred approach of the European institutions, we examine the practices of European Works Councils (EWCs) in the light of the actions of the European actors operating within these European structures. The paper identifies a large variety of EWCs practices which contribute to different extent to Europeanization: practices determined by growing regime competition; practices which help to develop joint interests and commonalities; pro-active practices built on strong trade union structures.

How to Cite:

Pulignano, V., Kluge, N. & Dekocker, V., (2013) “Europeanisering en betrokkenheid van werknemers: is er nog ruimte voor een sociaal Europa?”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 34(1), 36–59. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86818