Language and symbolic boundaries among transnational elites: A qualitative case study of European Commission officials

Abstract

Previous research has asked whether European integration leads to the formation of a new kind of ‘transnational class’ or ‘elite’ in and around the European institutions in Brussels. This paper focuses instead on intra-group distinctions and symbolic boundaries between EU professionals from different countries. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of language as a marker of distinction, it argues that language continues to be a resource for symbolic boundary making. Empirically, this paper builds on in-depth interviews with officials of the European Commission, who are at the heart of an emerging transnational elite of EU professionals. It shows that while Commission officials are multilingual and use multilingualism to construct themselves as a transnational group, intra-group symbolic boundaries continue to be drawn based on competence in the Commission’s two main working languages, English and French. Overall, this paper points out the overlooked importance of language differences for transnational professionals’ symbolic boundary making.