Solidarity

Solidarity is a way to feel like a team.

It means people share the same goals. It helps groups stay close together.

Some people say we all need each other. A farmer grows food for a worker. The worker makes tools for the farmer.

This helps everyone live better lives. People can work together to fix things. It is more than just being kind. It can help change how the world works.

Working as one makes a group strong.

Solidarity is a sense of unity. It happens when groups share the same goals. It is more than just being kind. It aims to change whole systems.

Long ago, the word came from Latin. It meant "on behalf of the whole." In the 1800s, thinkers used it in new ways. Auguste Comte said people depend on each other. He linked this to being unselfish.

Émile Durkheim studied how societies stay together. He spoke of mechanical solidarity. This happens in small groups with similar lives. He also spoke of organic solidarity. This happens in big, modern societies. In these groups, people do different jobs. They must rely on each other to survive. For example, a farmer grows food. A factory worker makes a tractor. The farmer needs the tractor to work. The worker needs the food to eat.

Léon Bourgeois said people owe a debt to society. We use ideas and tools from those before us. This idea helped create new ways to live. Today, solidarity helps people work in cooperatives. These are groups where members work together fairly.

Solidarity is a powerful feeling of unity. It happens when a group of people shares the same goals and interests. It is more than just being kind to one person. Instead, it aims to change entire systems to make them better.

This concept helps people look past their own individual needs. It focuses on the ties that bind a whole society together. People use this idea in science, law, and even philosophy.

Different thinkers have explained how solidarity works in different ways. A sociologist named Émile Durkheim wrote about two main types. The first type is called mechanical solidarity. This happens in small groups where everyone lives similar lives. They might have the same jobs or religions. The second type is called organic solidarity. This happens in large, modern societies where people have different jobs.

Even if people are different, they must rely on each other to survive. A farmer grows food for a factory worker. The factory worker then makes a tractor for the farmer.

History shows how the meaning of solidarity has changed over time. The word comes from a Latin term meaning "on behalf of the whole." In the 16th century, it was used in French legal language. Later, thinkers like Auguste Comte used it to describe how people depend on each other. He believed this was the opposite of being selfish. In the 1800s, Pierre Leroux also introduced it as a social idea. By the year 1900, it was a very popular word for many good things.

Many important people helped shape these big ideas. Léon Bourgeois wrote a book called "Solidarité" in 1896. He believed that people owe a debt to the society they live in. He also used the term "solidarism" to describe a new way of thinking. Another thinker, Charles Gide, wanted to create a cooperative economy. He believed people should join together voluntarily to share profits.

Even Peter Kropotkin studied how cooperation helps living things survive in nature.

Today, we can see solidarity working in many places. It is a core value for cooperatives around the world. In these groups, members work together and treat everyone fairly. Solidarity also helps the insurance system work for everyone. People in an insurance group share both the costs and the benefits.

This helps a community prepare for risks together. On December 20, the world even celebrates International Human Solidarity Day.

Solidarity is a psychological sense of unity among groups or classes. It arises from shared interests, objectives, and standards. This concept allows people to move beyond individual identities. It encourages them to look past single-issue politics. True solidarity views individuals as the fundamental basis of society. However, it emphasizes the ties that bind people together as one. It is used in sociology, philosophy, and bioethics. It is also a key part of Catholic social teaching.

Unlike charity, solidarity seeks to change entire systems. It does not just aim to help individuals in need. Instead, it focuses on the structures of society itself. This distinction is important for understanding its social impact. Solidarity is a principle in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. However, it lacks the same legal weight as basic human rights. It is not mentioned in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Still, International Human Solidarity Day is observed every December 20.

The word has deep roots in legal history. The French terms "solidaire" and "solidairement" appeared in the 16th century. These words come from the Roman legal concept "in solidum." This term is derived from the Latin word "solidus." It means "on behalf of the whole." In the Napoleonic code, it referred to the joint liability of debtors. This meant debtors were responsible to a common creditor. At that time, it was not a primary legal principle.

After the French Revolution, the concept changed significantly. Conservatism used solidarity to react against rapid social change. It was a way to long for a stable society. Later, Pierre Leroux introduced the idea of non-legal solidarity. He was a utopian socialist who helped coin the term "socialism." Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology, also adopted the concept. He saw it as social interdependence between people. Comte linked solidarity to altruism, which is the opposite of egoism.

Sociologist Émile Durkheim developed two specific types of solidarity. He introduced these in his 1893 book, "The Division of Labour in Society." The first type is mechanical solidarity. This occurs in traditional, small-scale societies. Cohesion comes from the homogeneity of the individuals. People share similar work, education, and religious training. The second type is organic solidarity. This occurs in modern, industrial societies. It arises from the specialization of work. People become interdependent because they rely on each other's specific tasks. For example, farmers produce food for factory workers. In turn, those workers produce tractors for the farmers.

Léon Bourgeois brought solidarity into mainstream French political debate. In 1896, he published his influential book, "Solidarité." He introduced the term "solidarism" to describe a specific political ideology. Bourgeois believed in the idea of social debt. He argued that individuals owe society for its intellectual and technical capital. His ideas combined Durkheim's theories with biology. This offered an alternative to classical liberalism and workers' collectivism.

Charles Gide used solidarity to challenge liberal economics. He believed solidarity was only ethically valuable when it was voluntary. He proposed a cooperative economy through voluntary associations. In this system, workers would control the means of production. Members would share the profits created by their activities. Gide believed large income gaps broke the ties of society. Today, solidarity remains a core value for cooperatives. These groups emphasize common interest, equality, and justice.

Finally, Peter Kropotkin connected biology to social solidarity. In his 1902 book, "Mutual Aid," he studied cooperation. He argued that mutual aid is a factor in evolution. He believed cooperation is an important survival mechanism for species. This supportive activity comes from instinctive feelings of solidarity. This is not done just to receive a reward. Solidarity also functions within modern insurance systems. This system manages "social risk," which is caused by living together. Individuals take collective responsibility to mitigate these risks.