Solidarity
“Solidarity” is often invoked during crisis—as a call for unity, sacrifice, or shared purpose. In practice, many appeals to solidarity arise precisely when systems lack mechanisms to distribute responsibility or risk in a durable way.
Definition
Solidarity refers to a system arrangement in which obligations, risks, or resources are shared across members of a group through formal or informal mechanisms that bind participants together.
Technical meaning vs common usage
Technical meaning:
A collective structure that pools risk, responsibility, or benefit through rules, institutions, or mutual commitments.
Common usage:
A feeling of unity, empathy, or moral alignment among people.
How the term gets stretched or misused
Used to request voluntary sacrifice without structural support
Treated as an emotion rather than an arrangement
Invoked to fill gaps left by weak institutions
Framed as a moral duty rather than a shared system
Where the power sits
Power in solidarity systems sits in the rules that determine who contributes, who benefits, and under what conditions. Institutions decide whether solidarity is enforceable—through taxation, insurance, membership requirements, or eligibility rules—or whether it relies on discretionary participation that can erode over time.
This does not mean…
Universal agreement or harmony
Equal contribution in all cases
Altruism without structure
That solidarity exists without binding mechanisms
Why precision matters
When solidarity is treated as a feeling, its failure is blamed on weak commitment. When treated as a system, its durability depends on design: how obligations are defined, enforced, and shared. Precision explains why solidarity often collapses under strain when it is not institutionally supported.
Neutrality note
This definition describes solidarity as a system of shared obligation and risk, not as an endorsement or critique of moral appeals, collective values, or political movements.
Related HISW
Words Matter: Individualism
Sources
Sources below explain solidarity as a mechanism for sharing risk and responsibility through institutional or collective arrangements.
OECD — Society at a Glance: Social Cohesion Indicators (2021) https://www.oecd.org/social/society-at-a-glance/
National Academies of Sciences — Financing Social Protection (2019) https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25331/financing-social-protection