Fear of Others: Social Exclusion and the European Crisis of Solidarity

Abstract

In recent years a major challenge for the EU has emerged around social issues and collective identities. With the emergence of a European political community that has diminished national sovereignty at a time when global forces are also undermining nation states, both Europe and migration become linked as sources of instability. Anxieties about Europe and migration are linked with fears of a clash of civilizations and anxieties about social securities. Social discontent, fuelled by socio-economic changes, has undermined the traditional sources of identity around class and the nation, releasing xenophobic and nationalistic currents. Fear of others and anxieties about the future have emerged as potent social forces in contemporary society. The result is a crisis ofEuropean solidarity, along with a wider crisis of collective purpose. To combat such developments it is essential that the European project gives greater attention to issues of social justice and inclusive forms of social solidarity.

Universal Credit, ‘Positive Citizenship’, and the Working Poor: Squaring the Eternal Circle?

“…Delanty has noted an 'emerging crisis of solidarity', not only within the UK but throughout Europe, and he traces this back to a series of social and economic transitions, including changes in family, class, and employment structures which cumulatively have weakened previously solid social bonds. 62 Veitch has asserted that within the workfare contract (of which UC will be a central feature) it is possible to identify two forms of social solidarity, both of which have much in common with Durkheim's mechanical and organic social solidarity, in that they contain punitive and restitutive elements, designed both to exclude and include those members of the population in need of assistance. 63 Veitch further suggests that in the post-Keynesian world, workfare, and the contractual nature of benefit eligibility constitutes a method of manufacturing a form of collective individualism in a society which no longer inclines towards collective thought or action.…”

Turkey’s EU Quest and Political Cleavages under AKP

“…The consensus among these groups, however, is that there is an anxiety and fear of the spectre of an Islamification of Europe (i.e. an anti-Islamic sentiment) and/or an inherent tension between Islam and the values of the European project (Delanty 2008 andSivanandan 2006). Indeed, the tendency to distinguish Turkey from the rest of Europe in terms of culture and religion is neither a product of the internal political and social problems of the EU countries (the Islamic diasporas in Europe) such as xenophobia, nor does it stem from sui generis factors, though each of these factors may weigh in to some extent.…”

Managing Surveillance? The Impact of Biometric Residence Permits on UK Migrants

“…In this thesis, the EEA has 'come to resemble a gated community in which the bio-political control and management of immigration is, to a large extent, the product of fear ' (Van Houtum and Pijpers 2007: 291). The EEA/non-EEA dichotomy which has been created stresses that those from outside the EEA are deemed not only to be unwanted but also to be potentially risky, a security threat that needs controlling and monitoring (Delanty 2008). As a consequence, non-EEA migrants have been subject to greater restriction and surveillance.…”