Introduction

The French writer Albert Camus once called it the most painful question of our time: ‘Where can I be at home?’ The question has less to do with geography than with intangibles like identity, comfort and the strength of the networks linking us to other people. But the idea of being ‘at home’ – or belonging – is a powerful lens through which to make sense of some of the troubles of our era: why countries struggle to integrate large numbers of migrants and refugees, and why so many have seen backlashes, including the rise of nationalist populist parties and movements like Alternativ für Deutschland in Germany or Lega Nord in Italy.

Here I set out an approach to social belonging that seeks to explain what makes people belong in a community and how they might belong more. The pioneers of social innovation are often instinctive advocates of diversity and pluralism, and of a more open and connected world. Yet millions of their fellow citizens are uncomfortable with this cosmopolitan perspective, which they fear threatens their identity, their borders and their security. The tension between the rooted and the mobile, the local and the global, has become one of the crucial challenges of developed societies. Eagerly exploited by figures like Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen, it has also become one of the biggest threats to social innovation.

The central premise of my argument is simple: people are keenly attuned to reading feedback from social environments as to whether they belong. These feedback systems – which range from informal networks to politics – explain much about why some very diverse communities feel a strong sense of belonging while other, fairly homogeneous ones do not, including groups with a long history in the same place.

The argument challenges the widespread assumption that structural forces make new kinds of social conflict inevitable. Instead, it argues that the details are all-important. Otherwise people in similar places can experience belonging in very different ways.

The framework therefore aims to serve as a practical tool to help shape community engagement and involvement in Europe and beyond. It offers an alternative perspective to the theory of ‘thick multiculturalism’, which portrays modern societies as made up of distinct communities, each with its own strong identity and sense of belonging.