sociology for his groundbreaking work in social theory, methodology, and substantive areas such as suicide, religion, and labor. In the following selection from his first book, The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim explores the notion of social solidarity, that is, how individuals and society are bound together. Durkheim asserts that modern societies maintain their cohesion through depende...

For many people “solidarity” has become a meaningless word used in slogans – too often used without leading to any economic consequences. We show in this paper conditions under which solidarity can be a powerful instrument. In a solidary action, an individual in a group contributes to a series of actions that aims for a reallocation of scarce resources. The willingness to contribute is mainly i...

Solidarity is analysed in contradistinction from two adjacent concepts – justice and sympathy. It is argued that unlike the other two, it is essentially local (rather than universal), partial (rather than impartial) and reflective (an emotion mediated by belief and ideology, interest and common cause). Although not to be confused with justice, solidarity is presented as underlying any contract-...

This paper analyzes a strategy deployed by the Brazilian Government for combating hunger and poverty: the Solidarity Community (1995-2003), particularly institutional mechanisms used to fine-tune targeting processes and allocate resources to the Food Stocks Distribution Program (PRODEA) and the Undernourished Child and High-Risk Pregnancy Program (PCDMI). Primary data were obtained through inte...

Although the concept of solidarity sits at the center of many European health sector debates, the specific groups eligible for coverage, the financing arrangements, and the range of services and benefits that, together, compose the operational content of solidarity have all changed considerably over time. In prior economic periods, solidarity covered considerably fewer services or groups of the...

OBJECTIVE The study proposes "critical solidarity" as a value to be incorporated into the 21st century's bioethics agenda and as an instrument to guide people and associations in volunteer praxis. METHODS To explain how solidarity materializes itself, the motivations for engaging in volunteer activities in associations that integrate the corps of volunteers of the Instituto Nacional do Cancer...

In the first part of this paper taken-for-granted hypotheses in linguistic diversity are presented. In the second part the two constellations of globalized ideologies are described constituting paradigms that these hypotheses illustrate: competition and solidarity. In the third part, a condensed version of emerging globalized concerns is given. Sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics a...

Insurance versus Savings for the Poor: Why One Should Offer Either Both or None This paper analyzes data from a novel field experiment designed to test the impact of two different insurance products and a secret saving device on solidarity in risk-sharing groups among rural villagers in the Philippines. Risk is simulated by a lottery. Risk-sharing is possible in solidarity groups of three and i...

Tuberculosis is very probably the oldest human epidemic and the one that has inflicted the most harm in the history of the species. Recent studies have estimated tuberculosis to be about 3 million years old,1 and during much of that time this disease has been our greatest scourge. It is difficult to accept that tuberculosis has been causing harm for so many millions of years and that even today...