Principles of Group Solidarity


Book Description

Social scientists have long recognized that solidarity is essential for such phenomena as social order, class, and ethnic consciousness, and the provision of collective goods. In presenting a new general theory of group solidarity, Michael Hechter here contends that it is indeed possible to build a theory of solidarity based on the action of rational individuals and in doing so he goes beyond the timeworn disciplinary boundaries separating the various social sciences.




Classical Sociological Theory


Book Description

This comprehensive collection of classical sociological theory is a definitive guide to the roots of sociology from its undisciplined beginnings to its current influence on contemporary sociological debate. Explores influential works of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, Simmel, Freud, Du Bois, Adorno, Marcuse, Parsons, and Merton Editorial introductions lend historical and intellectual perspective to the substantial readings Includes a new section with new readings on the immediate "pre-history" of sociological theory, including the Enlightenment and de Tocqueville Individual reading selections are updated throughout




Solidarity and Justice in Health and Social Care


Book Description

This book presents a new view on the concept of solidarity and explains how it complements justice in health and social care.




Group Cohesion, Trust and Solidarity


Book Description

The "Advances in Group Processes" series publishes theoretical analyses, reviews and theory-based empirical chapters on group phenomena. Volume 19 includes papers that address fundamental issues of solidarity, cohesion and trust. Chapter one shows how solidarity is a consequence of group-level phenomena (competition) and individual level phenomena (similarity). The second chapter examines solidarity among injection drug users, showing that the cohesion and solidarity of drug users are patterned by principles of collective action. The next two chapters integrate extant theories to provide new insights. Chapter three integrates principles of social exchange, status organizing processes and game theory to theorize solidarity; while chapter four shows how research on emotions can explain solidarity in status-differentiated groups. Two chapters then review and analyse long-standing programmes of research on cohesion and trust. Chapter five reviews a decade of growth for the theory of relational cohesion, showing how emotions lead to cohesion and commitment. Chapter six analyses how learning and social control can produce trust in networks of varying size. The final two chapters examine processes that are often neglected in the production of solidarity and cohesion. Chapter seven analyses group loyalty as a function of intra- and inter-personal factors. Chapter eight examines how relatively subtle features of speech arrangements can either maintain or disrupt solidarity. Overall, the volume includes papers that reflect a wide range of theoretical approaches to solidarity and contributions by scholars that work in the general area of group processes.




Solidarity Economics


Book Description

Traditional economics is built on the assumption of self-interested individuals seeking to maximize personal gain. This is far from the whole story, however: sharing, caring and a desire to uphold the collective good are also powerful individual motives. In a world wracked by inequality, social divisions, and ecological destruction, can we build an alternative economics based on our mutual co-operation? In this book Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor invite us to imagine and create a new sort of solidarity economics – an approach grounded in our instincts for connection and community – and in so doing, actually build a more robust, sustainable, and equitable economy. They argue that our current economy is already deeply dependent on mutuality, but that the inequality and fragmentation created by the status quo undermines this mutuality and with it our economic wellbeing. They outline the theoretical framing, policy agenda, and social movements we need to revive solidarity and apply it to whole societies. Solidarity Economics is an essential read for anyone who longs for an economy that can generate prosperity, provide for all, and preserve the planet.







Social Solidarity and the Gift


Book Description

This book brings together two traditions of thinking about social ties: sociological theory on sol idarity and anthropological theory on gift exchange. The purpose of the book is to explore how both theoretical traditions may complete and enrich each other, and how they may illuminate transformations in solidarity. The main argument, supported by empirical illustrations, is that a theory of solidarity should incorporate some of the core insights from anthropological gift theory. The book presents a theoretical model covering both positive and negative--selective and excluding--aspects and consequences of solidarity.




Solidarity


Book Description

This book brings together philosophers, social psychologists and social scientists to approach contemporary social reality from the viewpoint of solidarity. It examines the nature of different kinds of solidarity and assesses the normative and explanatory potential of the concept. Various aspects of solidarity as a special emotionally and ethically responsive relation are studied: the nature of collective emotions and mutual recognition, responsiveness to others’ suffering and needs, and the nature of moral partiality included in solidarity. The evolution of norms of solidarity is examined both via the natural evolution of the human “social brain” and via the institutional changes in legal constitutions and contemporary work life. This text will appeal to students, scholars, and anyone interested in the interdisciplinary topic of social solidarity.




The Problem of Solidarity


Book Description

Presently the world is undergoing tremendous social, cultural and economic transformation. For sociologists, the challenge is arriving at a sound mapping of this tumultuous world stage. In this book, the contributing authors consider solidarity as a cognitive problem of basic science. They examine how solidarity is produced and reproduced, how it is related to social processes, and how such processes can be formalized and create conditions for productively studying their properties. Mathematical models and representations are presented by the authors as a coherent set of tools for understanding many social phenomena.




Exit, Voice, and Loyalty


Book Description

An innovator in contemporary thought on economic and political development looks here at decline rather than growth. Albert O. Hirschman makes a basic distinction between alternative ways of reacting to deterioration in business firms and, in general, to dissatisfaction with organizations: one, “exit,” is for the member to quit the organization or for the customer to switch to the competing product, and the other, “voice,” is for members or customers to agitate and exert influence for change “from within.” The efficiency of the competitive mechanism, with its total reliance on exit, is questioned for certain important situations. As exit often undercuts voice while being unable to counteract decline, loyalty is seen in the function of retarding exit and of permitting voice to play its proper role. The interplay of the three concepts turns out to illuminate a wide range of economic, social, and political phenomena. As the author states in the preface, “having found my own unifying way of looking at issues as diverse as competition and the two-party system, divorce and the American character, black power and the failure of ‘unhappy’ top officials to resign over Vietnam, I decided to let myself go a little.”