Claiming solidarity: A multilevel discursive reconstruction of solidarity

Abstract

Solidarity is one of the central concepts in social theory and has gained much attention due to the multiple challenges that the EU has been facing the last decade and due to the most recent COVID-19 pandemic. Although the debate on the nature and conditions of solidarity has been revitalized, there remains a large variety in how to conceptualize solidarity. In contrast to other approaches, we do not conceive solidarity as normative concept, but as descriptive–analytical one. Therefore, we provide a theory-based definition that is prone to capture the empirical dimensions of solidarity. Accounting for the dynamic and interactive character of solidarity as subject to permanent societal and political renegotiation, we conceptualize solidarity from a discourse perspective and follow a multilevel design breaking down the understandings of solidarity on different levels. This approach contributes to the research of solidarity that is interested to capturing the ‘real world’ dimensions of solidarity.

All for One, and One for All? Analysing Party Positions on EU Solidarity in Germany in Challenging Times

“…Previous research has demonstrated that this question is not trivial in political or academic terms: it is politically relevant, because the lack of solidarity in past crises has thrown into doubt the future of the European integration project and the stability of democratic societies (Jones and Matthijs 2017; Lahusen and Grasso 2018). It is also academically crucial, because conceptualizing and measuring solidarity and who is asked to show solidarity with whom is strongly debated in the literature (Baute et al 2019; Kneuer et al 2022). While scholars have extensively studied preferences regarding solidarity in different European countries and across a range of crises (Bechtel et al 2014; Gerhards et al 2020; Katsanidou et al 2022; Lahusen and Grasso 2018), two questions still remain to be addressed.…”