European societies are facing new challenges stemming from cultural encounters and identity transformations. These have revealed the vulnerability of the EU project and cosmopolitan European identity. In this talk I will address these challenges and propose a new theoretical and methodological approach. My research draws on structural Socio-anthropology and aims to develop some of Lévi-Strauss’s and Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual and theoretical tools. I outline a complex research strategy including the use of Bayesian inference. Comparison of the findings with policy choices and practices will make it possible to assess the effects of European integration policies.