8 - Changing Solidarity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
Summary
In some areas of our public life a shared sense of civility seems to have been delegitimated as a binding norm we can reliably invoke; that is, not merely that people behave uncivilly, but that the charge “That was uncivil” carries little or no weight. So I think there is a decline in civility and that this decline matters.
(Lawrence Cahoone 2000b: 145)Contemporary solidarity is different from what it has been in earlier times. Broad societal changes have had an impact on the forms and manifestations of solidarity: the individualization process, the decline of religiosity in Western societies, the economic reforms that have taken place in many welfare states, changing patterns in family life, changing gender roles, the development of the information and communication technology, and, last but not least, the migration processes occurring throughout the world. As a consequence of immigration new religious and political identities present themselves to the inhabitants of the Western world, giving rise to new questions and concerns about solidarity. These societal changes do not necessarily cause a decline in solidarity, as is often assumed. In certain domains solidarity may increase; in others it may merely adopt a new shape. In this chapter, I briefly examine some of the main dimensions that may be involved in the transformation in solidarity: individualization, diversification, and globalization. Mainly cultural critics have reflected on these societal transformations, but their conclusions only incidentally extend to the consequences for social ties and solidarity.
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- Social Solidarity and the Gift , pp. 169 - 188Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004