Abstract
Multiple crises in the EU have sparked a renaissance of the concept of solidarity. However, discursive approaches to solidarity and the public understanding of solidarity have hardly received scholarly attention. Empirical research on solidarity is rather centered on welfare institutions as well as on individual attitudes and behavior. To shed new light on solidarity in public discourse, we investigate in which policy fields the term is most often used, which actors refer to it and how different types of solidarity are covered in the German public discourse. We investigate the coverage of solidarity in four German newspapers (<em>Die Welt</em>, <em>Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung</em>, <em>Süddeutsche Zeitung</em>, <em>Die Tageszeitung</em>) from 2008 to 2017. By deploying the discourse network methodology with 306 claims in 230 news articles, we analyze the co-occurrence of actors and issues over time. Our results indicate a varying set of issues in which solidarity occurs, a rather stable actor visibility, across time and a context-dependent use of different types of solidarity. Government actors, civil society actors as well as citizens drive the solidarity discourse showing that institutional as well as non-institutional actors make use of solidarity in their public actions regarding political protest, financial issues and migration. The study provides novel insights into the interdependence of actor and issue visibility and sheds new light on solidarity in media discourses.
Highlights
We map the solidarity discourse network and show the interconnectedness of actors and issues that they address in their statements
Regarding the appearance of actors, we demonstrate a shift towards institutionalized actors such as government and legislators, while citizens and civil society actors are still present in the solidarity discourse
Our main aim was to provide a longitudinal perspective on the use of solidarity as well as the issue and actor visibility in
Summary
The recent debates about the Euro crisis and the migration crisis have sparked a renaissance of the concept of solidarity in general and the crisis-solidarity nexus in particular (Wallaschek, 2019a). The reason for this renewed interest in solidarity lies in its ability to solve social problems by ensuring cooperation and mutual support even in times of crisis (Lindenberg, 1998). Scholars have investigated solidarity in various contexts, policy fields and from varying theoretical perspectives. The analysis of “institutionalised solidarity” (Gelissen, 2000) in national welfare states, and the investigation of solidary attitudes, opinions and actions in the EU have dominated the academic literature
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
