Abstract

In the last decades, European research programmes have dramatically increased their appeal among researchers and consequently their ability to impact on the directions and processes of scientific knowledge production. In spite of this, not many scholars have faced the question of how and how much EU research efforts may affect scientists' practices. Moving from a brief introduction of the role of the EU institutions in scientific research, this essay tries to shed light on the dynamics that underlie scientific activities promoted and coordinated by the European Commission using Bourdieu's field theory as the main interpretative lens. In the last part of the article, some initial findings coming from a quantitative investigation on the research projects carried out by the SSH (Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities) in the period 2007-2013 are discussed.