Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: social solidarity in Europe: the fourth pillar
- two The concept of solidarity in the European integration discourse
- three Solidarity at the margins of European society: linking the European social model to local conditions and solidarities
- four Towards a globalisation of solidarity?
- five Contested terrains and emerging solidarities within childcare law, policy and practice in Europe
- six Embedding European identity in context: changing social solidarities in Europe
- seven Intra-European energy solidarity at the core of the European integration process: future possibilities and current constraints
- eight Social solidarities and immigration integration policies in South-Eastern Europe
- nine Normative power Europe: a tool for advancing social solidarity within and beyond Europe?
- ten Social solidarity in post-socialist countries
- eleven Trade unions, NGOs and social solidarity in Romania
- twelve Social solidarity and preferences on welfare institutions across Europe
- thirteen Social solidarity, human rights and Roma: unequal access to basic resources in Central and Eastern Europe
- fourteen Conclusion: the future of social solidarity in an enlarged Europe: key issues and research questions
- Index
twelve - Social solidarity and preferences on welfare institutions across Europe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: social solidarity in Europe: the fourth pillar
- two The concept of solidarity in the European integration discourse
- three Solidarity at the margins of European society: linking the European social model to local conditions and solidarities
- four Towards a globalisation of solidarity?
- five Contested terrains and emerging solidarities within childcare law, policy and practice in Europe
- six Embedding European identity in context: changing social solidarities in Europe
- seven Intra-European energy solidarity at the core of the European integration process: future possibilities and current constraints
- eight Social solidarities and immigration integration policies in South-Eastern Europe
- nine Normative power Europe: a tool for advancing social solidarity within and beyond Europe?
- ten Social solidarity in post-socialist countries
- eleven Trade unions, NGOs and social solidarity in Romania
- twelve Social solidarity and preferences on welfare institutions across Europe
- thirteen Social solidarity, human rights and Roma: unequal access to basic resources in Central and Eastern Europe
- fourteen Conclusion: the future of social solidarity in an enlarged Europe: key issues and research questions
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Old notions of solidarity face serious challenges in a transforming European Union (EU). Some developments in the current economic crisis highlight the increasing demand for Europe-wide social protection policies in a globalising economy. This, in itself, challenges the existing legal framework of the EU (Habermas, 2001; Scharpf, 2002). What is more, the very same developments (for example, increasing migration, enlargement of the EU, growing anxiety among the middle class), which call for a more encompassing concept of solidarity, are often blamed for the supposed erosion of once-solid traditional European principles of solidarity (Delanty, 2008).
Among the above trends, the possible impacts of immigration and ethno-cultural heterogeneity on social solidarity have attracted much scholarly attention since the mid-1990s. This interest may have stemmed from accumulating evidence about US voters’ overwhelming hostility towards certain welfare transfers (for example, Gilens 1995). However, Alesina and Glaeser's (2004) provocative hypothesis about a coming era of welfare state retrenchment, following mass immigration in Europe, prompted a new line of research on the other side of the Atlantic. Cross-country investigations of attitudes and welfare spending provide only scant evidence for the detrimental effect of heterogeneity on solidarity in Europe. Nonetheless, the question of the future of European solidarity is still open because recent findings on the moderate average influence of heterogeneity on attitudes may indicate upcoming changes in the political climate of some European countries (van der Waal, 2010).
This chapter aims to contribute to the research on the reinvention of solidarity in Europe by presenting a fresh look at recent evidence on cross-country variance of articulation of social solidarity in attitudes towards social policy. We are particularly interested in the empirical base of any plea for more coordination in the social policy field in the EU (for example, Habermas, 2001; Scharpf, 2002). From this perspective, large cross-country differences in particular policy questions do not by themselves undermine the common ground for the development of a European concept of social solidarity. On the other hand, differences that are stable and coherent across issues and along cultural and institutional cleavages would question the efforts for more coordinated policy actions.
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- Reinventing Social Solidarity across Europe , pp. 209 - 226Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011