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Lecture 1 - Solidarity & Social Justice
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Detailed notes of the first lecture of the course solidarity and social justice.
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LECTURE 1 - INTRODUCTIONPART 1.
Contemporary social problems (just an introduction of the coursematerial)
- You are welcome to bring any social problems to class, to discuss.
- Me too: we are living in a time were violence against women is much more discussed,
but also condemned. Solidarity and equality between men and women, it is (among
other things focused on restorative justice
- Climate crisis: it is about being solidaristic with future generations, ecological justice,
what it’s role should be
- Black Lives Matter: About solidarity between black and white, recognizing past and
present injustice.
- Covid-19: which is about being solidaristic on a global (or national) and a question about
proportionality of measures, and the risk of getting the disease. How can we attain fair
access to vaccines etc.
PART 3
SOLIDARITY
- A core but contested concept within sociology and philosophy. It is mostly studied on a
macro level.
- How solidarity manifests itself in society:
o Shared aims and interests
o Shared life experiences (work, community)
o Fraternity (brotherhood)
o Community: a willingness to share resources
o Solidarity provides A moral grounding for entering into a welfare state. It justifies
it.
- What are the psychological roots though?
Related concepts are studied in psychology, but are not called ‘solidarity’:
o Cooperation / altruism / Prosocial behaviour
o Belongingness / affiliation
o Social identity / inclusion & exclusion
How do people divide themselves into groups that they belong to, and to which
they don’t belong to.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
If solidarity is about the willingness to share and to cooperate with each other, social justice
provides to rules through which we can do this. Compared to solidarity, social justice is
studied much more (trans-) interdisciplinary.
- Sociological and philosophical roots:
o Redistribution of resources
, o Division of divide fundamental rights and obligations (more immaterial
resources)
o A set of underlying moral principles in society (
It provides the ‘how’ for solidarity.
- Psychological roots:
In psychology, an important distinction is made:
o Distributive fairness = What a fair outcome would look like
o Procedural fairness = How should we get to the outcome (is about the process)
Within psychology, social justice is viewed as an important Self-transcending (vs. self-
enhancing) value / motive. It is contrasted with an egoistic motive. Just like social
justice, solidarity can also be considered a self-transcending value.
Interdisciplinary perspective
- Sociology
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Each week it will be noted which perspectives will be covered.
PART 4
The central question to be answered:
“Do we have self-transcending
motives of justice and solidarity or
is all behavior ultimately driven by
self-interest?”
This question has also been framed as these questions:
- Are we naturally inclined to cooperate?
- Is a sense justice hardwired in our brains? Is it part of our genetic make-up?
- Does purely altruistic behavior exist? Or is there always some forms of self-
interest part of altruism
- (Focused on solidarity:
Can we feel pure solidarity? Or is it always based on reciprocity (getting
something in return… self interest)
Homo economicus
The view of mankind as homo economicus. Two major and influential theories that
start out from the idea that humans being are self-interested are:
- Rational Choice Theory
When people are confronted with a choice, it will consider all available
alternatives. People are rational beings. They weigh the costs and benefits of all
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