Solidarity in Europe–European Solidarity: An Introduction

Christian Lahusen,Maria Grasso

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73335-7_1

Abstract

This book aims to answer a number of questions on solidarity through the analysis of data from an original cross-national survey conducted within the TransSOL project. How developed are solidarity attitudes and practices among citizens of European member states? How diffused are these orientations when comparing various target groups, among them refugees/migrants, unemployed people, and the disabled? And how strongly are citizens engaged in helping people outside their country, both within and outside Europe? Which groups in the European citizenry are the strongest supporters of European solidarity, and which segments exhibit distance from European or global solidarity? Studies have focused on support for redistribution to the detriment of analyses on civic and interpersonal forms of solidarity. This chapter introduces the reader to the study of solidarity, presenting and discussing available knowledge and proposing conceptualisations, measurements and explanations.

Highlights

Solidarity has received heightened attention in public debates during the last decade, because the various crises affecting the European Union have put the idea of European solidarity under stress
We propose to follow a much quoted definition by Stjerno who defines solidarity as the preparedness to share one’s own resources with others, be that directly by donating money or time in support of others or indirectly by supporting the state to reallocate and redistribute some of the funds gathered through taxes or contributions (e.g., Stjerno 2012: 2)
Solidarity is tied to an community or group, whose members are expected to support each other in order to fulfill the mutual rights and obligations associated with group membership (Hunt and Benford 2004). While this conceptualization is admittedly close to the notion of political solidarity (Scholz 2008), as it leans toward a rights-based definition, we argue that it is applicable to social and civic solidarity between individuals, as well

Summary

Introduction

Solidarity has received heightened attention in public debates during the last decade, because the various crises affecting the European Union have put the idea of European solidarity under stress. The aim of the survey was to build a comparative dataset that would allow us to measure levels of solidarity among the member states’ citizenry and to help identify those social and political factors that might promote or inhibit solidarity both within the member states and across their borders.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion