Associative Solidarity, Autonomy and the Sources of Self-Respect

Solidarity is essential to preserve the social bases of self-respect and autonomy. In its absence, people look for alternative sources of self-respect, and often reaching the conclusions that populist rhetoric suggests. This is to say that we identify one of the appeals of populism as a validating process of the individual need for recognition. We begin with the idea of associative solidarity, which identifies the basis of solidarity as social membership, as being part of particular social relationships and as being recognized as a member. Based on an exploration of the literature on recognition, we argue that being recognized in this way is central to one’s sense of self-respect and forms an important condition for individual autonomy. We then develop the concept of associative solidarity further by discussing what recognition actually implies, and argue that an important aspect is the conveyance of social esteem. Social esteem, we suggest, is the recognition of persons not only as generic others, but of their specific identities and contributions as worthwhile. In the second step, we investigate the unique contribution associative solidarity can make to the grounds of individual self-respect and individual autonomy. We examine the role of the state in guaranteeing that individuals are part of relationships of mutual solidarity and social membership and suggest that lack of these relationships results in social deprivation/exclusion. This is problematic since social deprivation harms the basis of self-respect and the capacity to act autonomously.