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ABSTRACT
This paper takes its starting point in the public discourse, of politicians and academics, that suggests that Europe, specifically the European Union, is suffering from a 'crisis of identity'. This is believed to stem from the recent enlargements, the pending 'problem of Turkey', and disarray over the European Constitution. This issue is addressed in two ways: first, through an exploration of the main current models and meanings of 'Europe', and second, applying an anthropological approach to identity, through examining the relationship between models and meanings of 'Europe' and local, regional, ethnic and national identities. In the first place, this suggests that there is not, and cannot be, agreement over the shape and meaning of 'Europe'. There is, rather, rooted in histories, geographies, politics, and cultures, a range of different Europes, which only coincide imperfectly, at best. In the second place, Europe is always viewed from local, regional, ethnic and national points of view. Each approach converges on the same conclusion: there can never be a clear-cut, consensual unified model of Europe. This is a normal situation, not a crisis, and, if anything, is one of the strengths of the European Union project.

Using as its centre piece a Royal Visit, this article draws upon ethnography from a small town in Jutland, Denmark, to examine the role of the monarchy in Danish society. By focussing upon performance, and upon the management of the local cultural contradictions of equality and hierarchy, and modernity and tradition, the delicate balance between the sacred and the profane in the legitimation of monarchy in social democratic Denmark is explored. Comparisons are drawn with the United Kingdom monarchy, arguing that there are no transferrable lessons for the House of Windsor from the relatively successful adaptation to modernity of the House of Glucksborg.

Categorization is central to all classification and knowledge. It is also central to sociology. With respect to social identity - the classification of humans - it is defined as the identification of others (in contrast to self- and group identification). Social identification, involving both similarity and difference, is constituted in a dialectical interplay between internal and external identification. The latter is categorization. The impact on identity of categorization depends not simply on cognitive internalization, but also on its consequences, and the capacity of actors to make their identifications of others count. Conceptualizing the social world as three orders - the individual, the interactional, and the institutional - categorization is central to understanding each. Following a consideration of a range of institutionalized social contexts in which categorization is significant, the critical implications of this approach for recent discourses about `difference' are outlined.