On the Concept of Solidarity   The foundation on which a structure stands

Democratic societies rest on shared values, norms, and the universal rights and responsibilities that bind their members. In this context, what role does solidarity play among individuals—is it an indispensable element of a functioning society, or simply a nice add-on? Leonhard Emmerling explores a complex and debated concept.

In 1793, a French noblewoman was executed by guillotine at the Place de la Concorde. Olympe de Gouges (*1748) had dared to demand equality for women and boldly linked her feminism with a call to abolish slavery. A year later, the first president of a democratic republic on German soil died in Paris: Georg Forster (*1754), who, after joining James Cook’s second world voyage, embraced an anti-colonialist stance. Committed to the Enlightenment’s ideals, Forster championed democracy as president of the short-lived Mainz Republic and challenged the early Kant with the later Kant by taking seriously the philosopher’s moral teachings while opposing his racist assertions.

Nearly two centuries later, on another continent, Polish-born rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) marched alongside Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) from Selma to Montgomery. For both Heschel and King, advocating for human and civil rights meant transcending ethnic, religious, and linguistic identities. The three examples share a common thread: the pursuit of universal values over particular interests. Their actions were based on the conviction that in any society where one individual’s freedom, equality, or dignity is arbitrarily denied, no one is truly free; that individual experiences of inequality and injustice must drive the pursuit of combating inequality and injustice beyond boundaries of ethnicity, culture, religion, and identity.

What are the implications of this universalization? What are the consequences? And what sociological term might best capture this phenomenon of transforming particular experiences into universal principles?

What strengthens a society

It's natural to turn to the concept of solidarity. While we shouldn't rely too heavily on etymology, the Latin root of “solidarity”—solidus,a,um, meaning “firm”—hints at its essence. In architecture, the term refers to the foundation on which a structure rests. Thus, solidarity concerns what binds a society together, what it is built upon, and what gives it strength and cohesion.

It would be a stretch to say the concept of solidarity is currently in high demand. This may be because it has, on one hand, been overused as an easy rallying cry (e.g., “solidarity with Nicaragua!”), and on the other, the rise of identity politics has overshadowed the idea of a society structured by class differences. Today, solidarity is expressed primarily within intersectional frameworks, but “society” (contrary to “community”) as a motivating force for political action has largely faded from view. As society becomes more diverse, so does the notion and practice of solidarity. The world has grown too complex to offer blanket solidarity to any club in its entirety, no matter how “noble” its intentions.

At the same time, “solidarity” is far from an inherently positive concept. After all, it is not only virtuous causes that demand solidarity, and not every cohesive society is a free one. On the contrary: where political leaders enforce rigid doctrines and unquestionable “truths,” binding citizens within the constraints of prescribed solidarity, such societies often become more violent and oppressive than those that embrace doubt, allow freedom of thought, and permit room for change and error. And stand on rather shaky foundations...

Nonetheless, we are currently witnessing a political strategy marked by division, polarization, and a weakening of solidarity—a trend that one might even say spans the globe. In light of this, revisiting the somewhat neglected concept of solidarity seems more important than ever. How might we envision a meaningful approach to solidarity?

A Tool for Advancing Toward the Ideal of Equality

It has sometimes been linked to ideals of brotherhood/sisterhood or friendship. It has been derived from ideals of charity or the virtue of compassion. Yet all of these connections and associations have their limitations: Brotherhood and sisterhood imply family-like bonds or kinship, yet the notion that societies are merely larger families has long been an intellectual shortcut that led to blackout. Friendship on the other hand depends on sympathy and empathy, while charity implies a power imbalance— Solidarity extended to those perceived as weaker or more in need is often offered from a position of privilege that others do not have. In this form, solidarity risks becoming a kind of paternalism, solidifying inequality rather than addressing it. What if, instead, we see solidarity as both an outcome of “individuation through socialization” (Habermas) and as a pathway toward equality—not as a prerequisite but as its ultimate aim?

Individuation through socialization suggests that individuals exist and are formed in relation to society, both with and against it. They become who they are as inherently social beings. Formulated in an over-the-top way, my solidarity with society and its members is, in a sense, solidarity with myself—a solidarity with the multiplicity within me (as Whitman famously put it: “I am large; I contain multitudes”) and with the values I hold for a good life within this society. Solidarity, then, is a declaration of equality with all others who, like me, have become individuals within this shared society; which means: have become others.

Moreover: if we understand individuation through socialization as individuation within the global society in which we now live, then the true measure of solidarity becomes solidarity with the unknown, the distant strangers, those we do not know but of whom we know that they – as different – are like us. Solidarity, then, is not an abstract ideal; it is, quite simply, a practical tool for moving towards an ideal, the ideal of equality. To use this tool effectively, we must be willing to shift our perspective and capable of overlaying perspectives, embracing a form of double exposure. After all, you see more clearly when you see double…