Publication: Daedalus
Publication Date: 22-SEP-06
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Hollinger, David A.
Article Excerpt
Just who belongs together with whom, and for what purposes, and on what authority? Where and why do the claims of descent, religion, nationality, economic position, ideology, gender, and 'civilization' trump one another in the competition for the loyalties of individuals in an epoch of increased global integration? How much do we owe to 'our own kind'--whatever that may mean--and how much to 'strangers,' to the rest of humankind? Our most discerning social observers often conclude that "the boundaries of responsibility are increasingly contested." (1)
The problem of solidarity is shaping up as the problem of the twenty-first century. Yet the centrality of this problem to our time, and to our apparent future, is often obscured by the popularity of the term identity. (2) This word sounds like a reference to a stable, if not static, condition, largely cultural and psychological, but the word as commonly used in the United States during the past several decades has actually functioned to assign political and social roles to individuals and to flag expectations about just who will make common cause with whom. To share an identity with other people is to feel in solidarity with them: we owe them something special, and we believe we can count on them in ways that we cannot count on the rest of the population. To come to grips with one's true identity is to ground, on a presumptively primordial basis, vital connections to other people beyond the family.
What exactly do I mean by 'solidarity,' and why do I characterize it as a problem? How does this problem relate to "the problem of the color line," which W. E. B. Du Bois a century ago called "the problem of the twentieth century"? How has the notion of identity delayed a fuller recognition of the urgency and scope of the problem of solidarity? This essay addresses those questions. (3)
Solidarity is an experience of willed affiliation. Some might prefer to speak of 'community,' but this usage blurs more than it clarifies. This word often serves simply to classify people, to denote a group defined by one or more characteristics shared by its members--whether
or not those members are disposed to act together. Hence we speak of 'the real-estate community,' 'the gay community,' 'the Asian American community,' 'the scientific community,' 'the national community,' 'the Upper West Side community,' 'the manufacturing community,' 'the golfing community,' and so on, to indicate what may be an organized interest group or nothing more than a collectivity of individuals who share a distinguishing trait, practice, or place of residence. (4)
'Solidarity' best serves us if we use it to denote a state of social existence more specific than what 'community' has come to mean. Solidarity entails a greater degree of conscious commitment, achieved only when parties to an affiliation exercise at least some measure of agency, if only in consciously affirming an affiliation into which they were born. The experience of solidarity is more active than mere membership in a community. When the word 'solidarity' entered the English language in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was understood to refer to a property that some communities possessed and others did not. The English word 'community,' denoting a body of individuals, dates back many more centuries. (5) Solidarity is more performative than is community. Solidarity implies a special claim, even if modest in dimensions, that individuals have on each other's energies, compassion, and resources.
What is at semantic issue can be illuminated when we consider the popular notion of a 'community of fate.' This term commonly refers to a collectivity whose members have been subject to a single set of historical constraints. Jews are often described as a community of fate. Many Jews also affiliate with one another, affirm Jewish identity, and help to constitute a vigorous and sustaining solidarity. But not all members of the Jewish community of fate demonstrate significant solidarity with other Jews. The same distinction can apply to black people in the United States, to other descent-defined groups, to women, and to any population group whose members have been treated in some special fashion by persons who have exercised power over them. A community of fate will often sustain a solidarity, but the problem...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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