Introduction

In previous chapters, we sketched some of the lines of thought that have influenced our own understanding of solidarity (Chapters 1 and 2). We then presented our definition of solidarity as enacted commitments to accept costs to assist others with whom a person or persons recognise similarity in a relevant respect (Chapter 3). We explained the elements of our definition, relating them back to the bigger debates sketched in previous chapters. We also engaged with some of our critics in the process. In this final chapter of the theoretical part of this book, we will situate our understanding of solidarity in the debate around the concept's normative content, aiming to contribute to the critical discussion of the role solidarity can play as a normative principle. In other words, we will draw out what normative conclusions can be drawn from our understanding of solidarity regarding the conduct of people and the organisation of society. Before we do so, we will briefly comment on a phenomenon that seems to be more common in connection with solidarity than with other terms, namely the crypto-normative usage of the term.

Solidarity: Descriptive and Crypto-Normative Usage

Descriptive Solidarity

As discussed in Chapter 1, solidarity is often used as a descriptive term to capture various ‘bonds that bind people together’ (Arts and Verburg 2001). It is taken to denote different types of mutual attachments within social groups, or, more generally, reasons for social cohesion, and for ‘the relevant sense of belonging together in a society’ (Houtepen and ter Meulen 2000b). Kurt Bayertz sees as an important function of solidarity that it serves as an ‘inner glue’ (inneres Bindemittel) of societies (Bayertz 1998: 23). Depending on the type of society in question, this ‘glue’ can consist of civic friendship (harking back to Aristotle's concept of philia, applied widely to individuals, families, tribes, states, etc.), or capture less intimate and personal forms of interconnectedness in bigger, modern societies and nation states (Bayertz 1998).

Descriptive uses of solidarity – where solidarity is used to describe certain social bonds or relationships – are mostly found within the social science literature. Outside of the social sciences, descriptive uses are relatively rare; more often, the descriptive side is taken to be one important element of a fuller understanding of solidarity whose most important element is its normative meaning.