Solidarity Today: A Problem-Based Approach

Abstract

This chapter aims at establishing a problem-based approach to solidarity by describing its main characteristics and by testing its effectiveness in light of three pivotal issues today: immigration, the future of work, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The central assumption of this approach is that solidarity as a concept and practice, in order to be considered a political desideratum, must be able to tackle today’s justice problems and asymmetries, including the aforementioned issues. In order to show the advantages of a problem-based approach, this chapter analyses the complex bond between solidarity and justice as well as the models of solidarity that have been developed in contemporary moral and political philosophy. Rather than being a substitute for such models, the suggested approach aspires to strengthen existing definitions and theories of solidarity by focusing on concrete historical scenarios in which the principle of solidarity arises.

Keywords: solidarity, justice, immigration, future of work, pandemic