The Virtue of Solidarity

Many today are worried about the global spread of divisive politics, rampant inequality, social alienation, and political apathy. They are hungry for meaningful action that will bring about change, yet they are uncertain of how to achieve this. It is often repeated that people must come together, in displays of solidarity, but fundamental questions about this political catchword--what solidarity is, when (or if) it is a virtue, and its potential dangers--have not received the attention they deserve. They have certainly received less attention than solidarity’s closest relatives: liberty and equality.

The Virtue of Solidarity brings together twelve world-leading philosophers to reflect on the nature, history, and virtue of solidarity. Topics discussed include race, class, Catholic understandings of solidarity, and the social theories of Émile Durkheim, Léon Bourgeois, and Jürgen Habermas as they relate to present disputes of solidarity. These essays present and debate solidarity’s many forms and roles--as a virtue, a sacrifice, an egalitarian commitment, or even something pernicious--where it belongs within a just society, and its relationship to justice. The Virtue of Solidarity is a comprehensive volume of the most recent thinking regarding this topic, ranging from the philosophical to the sociological, the religious to the political, presenting solidarity’s many justifications and exploring the most urgent questions that surround it.

Andrea Sangiovanni is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London. From 2018-2020, he was Professor of Social and Political Theory at the European University Institute, Fiesole. His research on solidarity is supported by a 5-year European Research Council Consolidator Grant entitled ＂Solidarity in Europe.＂ He is the author of Solidarity: Nature, Value and Grounds (Manchester, 2023), Humanity without Dignity: Moral Equality, Respect, and Human Rights (Harvard, 2017), and numerous articles in journals such as Philosophy & Public Affairs, Journal of Political Philosophy, and Oxford Journal of Legal Studies.

Juri Viehoff is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utrecht. Before that, he was a lecturer at the University of Manchester and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Zurich and at the European University Institute in Florence. His work has been published in The Journal of Political Philosophy, Synthese, and European Journal of Philosophy among several others.