The European Crisis and Constitutional Claims from Below

The chapter contributes to the delineation of a specifically political-sociological approach to European (constitutional) politics and transnational social movements. I will, first, briefly discuss the emergence of (political) sociological approaches to European integration. Second, I will argue for the need for a political-sociological approach in the context of wider European studies. I will elaborate a distinct form of political sociology, which focuses on constitutional claims by social actors. Such an approach seems particularly useful in terms of the exploration of the critique of the existing, instituted European polity and its limitations. And, third, the chapter closes with a concise analysis of some of the available critique on European democracy and related constitutional claims as articulated by various transnational social movements in the midst of the crisis.