Affective and calculative solidarity: The impact of individualism and neoliberal capitalism

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which the self-responsibilized individualism underpinning contemporary concepts of the ideal European citizen, on the one hand (Frericks, 2014), and the inequalities and anti-democratic politics that characterize contemporary neoliberal capitalism, on the other, are co-constituent elements in creating an antipathy to forms of solidarity that are affective as opposed to calculative. The active citizenship framework lacks a full appreciation of the interdependency of the human condition and is antithetical to universalistic, affectively-led forms of solidarity. The deep relationality that is endemic to both social production and reproduction, and that impels an affective, morally-led form of solidarity needs to be recognized academically and intellectually, and politically sustained, if we are to move beyond a narrow, calculative, self-interested vision of solidarity in Europe.

Introduction

“…It has prompted a plethora of studies looking at the mechanisms of European solidarity across academic disciplines (Borgmann-Prebil & Ross, 2010;Kleger & Mehlhausen, 2013;Lahusen, 2020a;Lahusen & Grasso, 2018;Sangiovanni, 2013). However, the quest for European solidarity is as old as the EU itself (Lynch & Kalaitzake, 2020). The preamble of the treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Communityin 1951-names European solidarity as one of its fundamental goals to ensure peace on the European continent.…”

The Case for Universal Basic Services

“…It involves collective action towards shared objectives [16]. There is a growing literature on the ways in which neoliberal capitalism, based on individualism, choice and competition, weakens the values of social citizenship and undermines solidarity [17].…”

On the question of cheap care: Regarding A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason W Moore

“…Because they do not distinguish between the different forms of care involved in nurturing and producing human communities, the dimensions of care that can be commodified, and those that cannot, are not disaggregated. Yet, the care that can be provided as a paid service is separate from the non-transferable and inalienable work of love labouring, and from informal care, and solidarity (Lynch, 2007;Lynch et al, 2009;Cantillon and Lynch, 2017;Lynch and Kalaitzake, 2018). The love labour that produces a sense of support, solidarity and well-being in others is voluntarily given; it is relationally specific, and chosen to some degree, and because of this it is inalienable and non-commodifiable.…”