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.

中文翻译：

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跨国精英之间的语言和符号边界：欧盟委员会官员的定性案例研究

先前的研究询问欧洲一体化是否会导致在布鲁塞尔的欧洲机构内部和周围形成一种新型的“跨国阶级”或“精英”。本文转而关注来自不同国家的欧盟专业人士之间的群体内区别和象征性界限。借鉴 Bourdieu 的语言作为区分标记的概念，它认为语言仍然是符号边界制定的资源。根据经验，本文建立在对欧盟委员会官员的深入访谈的基础上，他们是新兴的欧盟专业人士跨国精英的核心。它表明，尽管委员会官员会说多种语言并使用多种语言将自己构建为一个跨国集团，继续根据委员会两种主要工作语言（英语和法语）的能力来划定集团内的符号界限。总体而言，本文指出了语言差异对于跨国专业人士符号边界制定的重要性被忽视了。