Cultural Difference and Social Solidarity: Solidarities and Social Function explores solidarity as a social function bringing to the fore the critical value of the concept of solidarity in understanding contemporary societies. The first part of the book (Solidarities) provides different theoretical approaches to the conception and exploration of solidarity that depart from the traditional and dominant perspectives within which debates about solidarity take place. This part includes chapters on the origins of the concept of solidarity in French social thought in the nineteenth century; a critical discussion of the later Foucault’s augmentation of his concerns with a critical politics of difference with a politics of parrhesia; Theodor Adorno and the identitarian logic that underpins reconciliation between difference and solidarity in initiatives such as multiculturalism; Alisdair MacIntyre and his rearticulation of Aristotelian virtue ethics to explore the value of solidarity ingrained in the practice of politics as a means of developing solidarity; and a transitional chapter that explores the social function of postcolonial theory. The second part of the book (Social Function) seeks to explore particular cases in which solidarity is constituted. The cases are diverse in global location, level of association, focus on cultural, political and policy contexts, and different approaches to analysis. As such, they provide a set of cases from which different aspects of the problems of making and remaking solidarity can be explored. These chapters include a case study in Israel exploring solidarity and social cohesion through migration, globalisation, and modernising processes; a case study of the African Village Market in Sydney, Australia; an example of the complexities of solidarity and identity in the Slovene context; and an exploration of how state action in Turkey dissolves solidarity in a community through urban housing policies.

Collects essays that engage the paradox of cultural difference and social solidarity within contemporary contexts. This title includes essays that focus on individuals negotiating with perceptions of their personal, social, and political identity. It aims to demonstrate the possibility of a broader acceptance of solidarities through difference.

Ethnic diversity and solidarity are often thought to be at odds with each other. In an increasingly diverse society, individuals find it more difficult to identify with other citizens and, therefore, are less willing to show solidarity. Empirical tests of the relationship between diversity and solidarity are, however, inconclusive. This book tests the hypothesis that diversity undermines solidarity in various ways. It discusses the meaning of social solidarity and the different motives that people can have to act solidary, and it examines the relationship between ethnic diversity and solidarity at the national, regional and local levels. These empirical tests use multiple methods, such as an international survey, a vignette study among the Dutch population, and a field experiment involving visitors to a popular market in Amsterdam. The role of the mass media is examined by studying the images of different ethnic groups that are presented in some popular newspapers, TV programmes and a news provider on the Internet. The collection concludes that, although ethnicity is certainly an important factor in understanding patterns of solidarity, there is not a simple linear relationship between ethnic diversity and solidarity. Even though ethnic difference in itself may be a source of discrimination, one cannot conclude from this that increasing ethnic diversity will necessarily result in less solidarity.

Du fait de l'immigration, la diversité culturelle et linguistique de nos sociétés a tendance à augmenter. Du fait d'interdépendances multiples, nous devons aussi de plus en plus fonctionner au niveau d'entités plurinationales, comme l'Union européenne, qui connaissent une diversité culturelle et linguistique sensiblement plus grande que chacune de leurs composantes. N'est-il pas d'autant plus difficile d'organiser durablement une solidarité généreuse au sein d'une population qu'elle est plus hétérogène culturellement et linguistiquement ? Si c'est le cas, les politiques dites " multiculturelles " sont-elle de nature à adoucir cette tension ou au contraire à l'exacerber ? C'est autour de ces questions que Philippe Van Parijs a rassemblé des chercheurs de divers horizons, mondialement réputés, pour deux jours de discussion intense. Ce livre reprend l'ensemble des communications et commentaires, suivi de conclusions personnelles par Brian Barry, Will Kymlicka et Philippe Van Parijs.

This book brings together two traditions of thinking about social ties: sociological theory on sol idarity and anthropological theory on gift exchange. The purpose of the book is to explore how both theoretical traditions may complete and enrich each other, and how they may illuminate transformations in solidarity. The main argument, supported by empirical illustrations, is that a theory of solidarity should incorporate some of the core insights from anthropological gift theory. The book presents a theoretical model covering both positive and negative--selective and excluding--aspects and consequences of solidarity.