Feminist Political Solidarity

Civic and Political Solidarity Practices in Switzerland

“…On the other hand, solidarity as a political practice refers to "a moral relation formed when individuals or groups unite around some mutually recognized political need or goal in order to bring about social change" (Scholz 2015, p. 732). Consequently, the grounded commitment to enhance social change is key to differentiating between solidarity forms, which primarily tend to provide help, services and relief to others or to upraise political voicing-advocacy, products' boycotting and activism (Stjernø 2012;Scholz 2008). As a result, when assessing the motivational orientations of the solidaristic engagements, we first identify the form, as political or civic, and then we analyse its motivational orientation.…”

Solidarity in Europe–European Solidarity: An Introduction

“…According to this conceptualization, solidarity is tied to an (imagined) 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. In fact, 'solidarity groups' might be informal cliques, formal organizations, or full-fledged nation-states, but all of them will be based on the idea that membership is tied to the expectations of mutual support, even if these expectations might range from informal to formalized, from voluntary to binding rights and obligations.…”

“…On the one hand, we need to remember that European solidarity is only one of the many potential group-bound solidarities, besides the region, the nation, or humanity, among many others. On the other hand, we must acknowledge that solidarities are in themselves contentious, because groups maintain both complementary but also competitive relations to each another (Bandy and Smith 2005;Scholz 2008). As an individual, one might feel in solidarity with one's own family, neighborhood, region, and nation, and this feeling might not stand in competition to a sense of solidarity with Europe or humankind in general.…”

“…While this aspect is important, it downplays the political and rights-based dimension of solidarity. In fact, people demonstrate solidarity with other persons in struggle or in need when participating in collective actions (e.g., public claims-making, political protests, communication campaigns) that strive to improve the situation of these groups by mobilizing on behalf of their rights and entitlements (Giugni and Passy 2001;Scholz 2008). This political dimension seems of particular importance when dealing with the European Union.…”

Solidarity in diverse societies: beyond neoliberal multiculturalism and welfare chauvinism

“…This partly reflects the dominance of the power resources theory within the welfare state field, but it is also reflects the fact that the very concept of "solidarity" has been neglected in social sciences and political theory. Several commentators have noted the "curious absence" (Reynolds, 2014) and "surprising gap" (Scholz, 2008) of solidarity as a subject of research in sociology (Reynolds, 2014: 1;Alexander, 2014), political science (Stjernø, 2004: 20) or in moral and political philosophy (Bayertz, 1998: 293;Scholz, 2008: 10). Wilde speculates that this is because solidarity is seen as "confined to the realm of rhetoric" -as a rhetorical trope of politicians -and not something fit for serious theoretical work (Wilde, 2007: 171).…”