Solidarity and collectivism in the context of COVID-19

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted health care, economies and societies in ways that are still being measured across the world. To control the spread of the virus, governments continue to appeal to citizens to alter their behaviours and act in the interests of the collective public good so as to protect the vulnerable. Demonstrations of collective solidarity are being consistently sought to control the spread of the virus. Catchphrases, soundbites and hashtags such as ‘we’re all in this together’, ‘stronger together’ and other messages of unity are employed, invoking the sense of a collective struggle. However, this approach is fundamentally challenged as collectivist attitudes run contrary to the individualism of neoliberal ideology, to which citizens have been subjected. This paper argues that attempting to employ the concept of solidarity is inherently challenged by the deep impact of neoliberalism in health policies and draws on the work of Durkheim to examine the concept in a context in which health care has become established as an individual responsibility. The paper will argue that a dominant private-responsibility model and an underfunded public system have eroded solidarity weakening its effectiveness in generating concerns for the collective.

In it together?: Exploring solidarity with frontline workers in the United Kingdom and Ireland during COVID‐19

“…The use of qualitative methods provides a deeper and enhanced understanding of solidarity, a topic where little psychological research exists. This study adds depth to our prior findings outlining the importance of strong and decisive leadership in the welfare of frontline workers (Kinsella et al, 2021;Sumner & Kinsella, 2021a) and provides support for the notion that broad social solidarity (or lack thereof) constitutes a unique and novel stress pathway for those working in roles that are characterized by interdependence of action and sentiment (Sumner & Kinsella, 2021b, 2022. While a key strength of our study is the broad range of occupational groups included in our sample, the small number of participants in each sub-category meant that a more extensive representation of a particular occupation was not possible using our chosen mode of analysis.…”

“…In COVID‐19, the emergence of societal solidarity was evident in many societies across the world (Berrocal et al, 2021 ; Prainsack, 2020 ; Tomasini, 2021 ), however this sentiment was arguably hard to sustain in more individualistic societies (Flynn, 2022 ), and gradually declined in the United Kingdom and Ireland as examples of rule breaking began to emerge through both government rhetoric and news media (Bouguettaya et al, 2022 ; Forester & McKibbon, 2020 ; West‐Oram, 2021 ; Williams, 2021 ). The initial appraisals of solidarity from the public and the government by frontline workers gave them much‐needed hope and served to maintain their resilience in the early phases of the pandemic (Kinsella et al, 2021 ), and workers themselves appear to understand the importance and significance of the solidarity they enact for society in carrying out their work and seeking to protect others around them.…”

“…Research has also shown that having a sense of solidarity with others while working in a frontline capacity, is important for health and well-being (Sumner & Kinsella, 2021b, 2022. The social identity approach (see Tajfel, 1978;Tajfel & Turner, 1979;Turner & Oakes, 1986) considers how membership and identification with social groups influence health and well-being (e.g.…”

“…Further, solidarity has been undermined by the rhetoric of blame from central leadership when it has come to contentious issues in pandemic management, such as the availability of testing, the high death toll, the non-adherence to public health rules and more latterly to the uptake of vaccination (Forester & McKibbon, 2020;Reicher & Drury, 2021;Williams, 2021). Here, the contradictory message from leadership (by saying 'we are in it together' but performing 'you are on your own') not only underlines the need for frontline workers to realign their group identity (to focus on a group where they can feel 'we'), but also adds to their overall feelings of stress and burnout (Sumner & Kinsella, 2021b, 2022.…”

Durkheim's Social Solidarity and the Division of labour: An Overview

“…A considerable amount of recent literature has shown the importance of Durkheim's solidarity and Division of labour in understanding contemporary society. Research has utilized Durkheim's model of forming solidarity during the covid pandemic (Mishra & Rath, 2020;Flynn, 2022). Others have analyzed Durkheim's solidarity and its legal formation in the modern world ( Johnson et al, 2017) and the formation of solidarity during the disaster (Alfirdaus et al, 2015).…”