Identity and solidarity in the complex of citizenship: The relational approach

Within modernity, social identity and solidarity are deemed to be conflicting terms on principle. What has been called the culture of difference triggers a weak solidarity anywhere. But, if it is really so, how can we explain the rise of new social solidarities, a phenomenon which is nevertheless occurring throughout Europe along with concomitant processes of fragementation and differentiation? The author's general argument is that conflicts between social identities and solidarities cannot be understood in terms of a clash between individual and holistic perspectives. We need a relational perspective. From this angle, the author tries to explain why and how a post‐modern societal balance between social solidarity and social identities (i.e. a new citizenship) is emerging today, from the society rather than from the state, in such a way as to build up new forms of interdependencies and links between identities and solidarities. Sociologically speaking, it may be that a new societal semantic is emerging, according to which citizenship is a complex of rights and duties not only of individuals but also of social groups, arranging civic life into a number of ‘universalistic autonomies’ capable of reconciling collective goals and self‐management practices, solidarity and identity issues. This is the new challenge for post‐modern societies. The name of this new game is ‘societal citizenship’ or citizenship of social autonomies, including regional ones.     

From Hell to Utopia and Back to Hell: Charismatic Relationships

Weber and most subsequent analysts of charisma have adopted a synchronic standpoint. The author offers a diachronic formulation, delineating the social processes that create, modify, and transform charismatic relationships. A mature charismatic relationship emerges as: (1) consensual definitions of discontents emerge; (2) the identities of leader and followers are established; (3) social encounters (gatherings) are programmed to enhance charismatic acts; (4) new solidarities are established; (5) new consensual definitions of reality are established; and (6) a Utopian future is formulated. The common phenomenon of charismatic relationships transforming into tyrannies is a consequence of the qualities of some of the social processes produced to maintain a charismatic relationship. Representative relationships are an alternative to charismatic and tyrannical ones.     

"I know a place that is softer than this..."--emerging migrant communities in South Africa

Since the end of apartheid, immigration into South Africa has increased dramatically. Migration has become a volatile issue, with South Africans increasingly xenophobic and threatened by the influx of foreigners.
Simultaneously, the question of national identity has increased in significance, with politicians and academics anxious to capture an understanding of the evolution and complementarity of parallel identities and group loyalties.
In the rush to develop a better understanding of identity formation, the opportunity to examine the impacts of hostility on identity, as in the example of migrant individuals and communities in South Africa, has been over-looked. How migrant identities emerge, and how communities play a role in identities and in the survival of individuals, has been a neglected facet of migration in South Africa.
This article, constructed largely from interviews with migrants, presents a picture of the emergence of migrant communities in South African society and seeks to enrich understanding of the complexities of migrant society within the country.     

Challenging the spatial politics of the European crisis: nationed narratives and trans-local solidarities in the post-crisis conjuncture

This paper explores the potential for the formation of political solidarities across the spatial divisions being intensified by dominant responses to the European crisis. In doing so, it takes inspiration from Doreen Massey’s thinking around the contested terms on which space and politics are articulated and her engagement with the 2008 crisis through projects such as the Kilburn manifesto. We argue that her book World city powerfully articulates a way of thinking about the spatial politics of a particular conjuncture. The paper traces the ways in which various political interventions in post-crisis politics have been shaped by distinctive ‘nationed’ geographical imaginaries. In particular, we explore how left-wing nationed narratives impact on the discursive horizon and unpack their implications for the articulation of solidarities and emancipatory politics in the context of the ‘European Crisis’. Building on this, we reflect on how trans-local solidarities and alliances might be articulated across socio-spatial divisions and contest the decidedly uneven, racialized, gendered and classed impacts of dominant European politics. We argue that such solidarities and alliances can form a crucial intervention in challenging the dominant spatial politics of crisis and articulating left political strategies on different terms.     

Closing the market as the only protection? Trade unions and the labor market in the French performing arts industry from 1919 to 1937

The case of trade unions in the French performing arts industry between the two World Wars will serve here to test the hypothesis advanced in the Sociology of Professions and Theory of closed Labor Market whereby workers seek to improve their chances by attempting to limit its access. In line with that hypothesis, lyrical and dramatic actors tried to control the market, in particular by making it compulsory to hold a professional license. Contrary to what the theory proclaims, however, musicians’ trade unions sought to control wages and employment by implementing a strategy of maximum receptivity, i.e. by accepting anyone who entered the market. The article shows how those different strategies molded group identities, by tracing the borders of legitimacy and influencing the nature and extent of solidarities that cropped up in the milieu. Beyond the divergent strategies, two contrasting prospects of emancipation emerge from this study: emancipation as professionals for an elitist and exclusive group of actors and opera singers, emancipation as wage-earners for an inclusive, non-elitist group of musicians.     

The historical roots of multicultural unity along the Upper Guinea Coast and in Guinea-Bissau

Lusofonia or lusophony is often defined as an identity shared by people in areas that were once colonised by Portugal, which in Africa include Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Lusofonia assumes that in these places people share something – a language, certainly, but also a history and culture rooted in the Iberian Peninsula. In some ways it is a re-articulation of Gilberto Freyre’s lusotropicalismo, the idea that Portuguese were more adaptable than other Europeans to tropical climates and cultures and created more multicultural colonial communities. Those who espouse lusofonia often have a political agenda – the strengthening of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. In this article, we argue that, like lusotropicalismo, lusofonia is a dream; it is not rooted in a historical reality. It is luso-centric in that it ignores the power and persistence of local cultures and gives undue weight to Portuguese influence. With regard to Africa, lusofonia’s agenda is elite driven and assumes the inevitability of modernity and globalisation. And we demonstrate that it was through Upper Guinean institutions and languages, and not colonial ones, that community and fellowship were most commonly fostered in the past, as they are fostered today. Those seeking the roots of lusofonia cannot, then, look to this period of Portuguese–African engagement in Upper Guinea. There Portuguese embraced “black ways.” They operated in a peculiar multicultural space in which people possessed fluid and flexible identities. Portugal did not create that space. Lusofonia has not been the foundation for cultural unity. Rather, unity has been found in localised institutions and in Crioulo. In Guinea-Bissau, lusofonia is not an indigenous movement. If it is anything, it is the stuff of elites and foreigners and is not rooted in any historical reality.     

Using Intersectionality to Examine the New Complexities of Work Identities and Social Class

This article explores how the concept of intersectionality is useful for examining how class location and gender intersect in the workplace. Intersectionality foregrounds the complex ways that work identity is negotiated and achieved and how formations of identity constitute complex affiliations, solidarities and tensions in the workplace. I use data from oral histories of railway workers to illustrate the usefulness of intersectionality as an approach to analysing work. Intersectionality and the concept of structures of feeling are important tools for examining how work shapes social identity and action. These concepts have been central to an important research project conducted at the Working Lives Research Institute, part of the wider ESRC Identities programme.     

Sociological aspects of migration policy: the case of the Federal Republic of Germany

In March 1980 the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) adopted guidelines for the further development of migration policy in which the social integration of 2nd- and 3rd-generation foreigners was a priority of migration policy in the future. However, there was no corresponding information and education for the German population on the envisaged integration of foreigners. At the end of 1981 the FRG was still not a country of immigration. From 1980-1982 the pressure of public opinion to restrict the number of incoming foreigners and the latent hostility towards foreigners constantly increased. In February 1982, the Federal Government adapted the following principles for their immigration policy: 1) to limit effectively further immigration of foreigners into the FRG; 2) to strengthen the desire of foreigners to return to their native countries; and 3) to improve the economic and social integration of foreigners who have lived in the FRG for many years and to define their rights of residence more precisely. In 1982, migration policy became an important aspect of German domestic affairs. The 1st decision on migration policy taken by the Federal Government (Christian-Democrats and Liberals) was to offer financial incentives for foreigners to remigrate. An opinion poll conducted in late 1981 showed that 1/2 the German population was hostile to foreigners, 58% of Germans wanted to see the number of foreigners limited or reduced, and 62% disapproved of foreign workers being allowed to bring their families into Germany. The Remigration Assistance Act of 1983 has had the following effects: 1) foreigners have become uncertain about their plans for the future, and 2) it gives the German population the illusion that the "problem caused by foreigners" will be automatically solved by their return. Young foreigners encounter unfavorable situations in the training and employment sectors. Another obstacle in their way is hostility to foreigners. A survey in 1985 showed that most older foreigners planned to return to their native country, while most younger ones did not. It is essential for the 1-sided emphasis on remigration assistance to be abandoned in the FRG's migration policy. The commission on migration set up by the Federal Government has also emphasized that the integration of foreigners is a fundamental element of migration policy.     

Class Formation and Class Identity: Birth,Death, and Possibilities for Renewal

While social class served as a powerful organizing identity for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, many doubt its contemporary relevance. This article examines the formation and development of theories of class identity over the past century. From a debate largely among Marxists in the early 20th century about the conditions under which the working class will mobilize to defend its interests – moving from a “class in itself” to a “class for itself” – the question of the relationship between individuals' class position, social interests, and political mobilization attracted greater attention among social scientists following World War II. However, postwar socioeconomic transformations led some to argue for the “death of class” as a central organizing principle for modern social and political life. While others countered that class identities remained relevant, the sharp decline in class‐based organization in the late 20th century led scholars to develop more nuanced understandings of the relationship between individuals' class position and collective identities. Although current scholarship shows that there is no natural translation of class identities into collective action, the reality of growing socioeconomic inequality, along with the resurgence of social and political mobilizations to contest that growth, suggests that class identities retain the capacity to unite.     

The Paradox of Disability Culture: the need to combine versus the imperative to let go

This article seeks to demonstrate that, to function as a truly emancipatory phenomenon, disability culture must be relieved of the paradox that keeps it trapped in modernist assumptions that serve to reinforce its marginalised status. The paradox of disability culture may be stated as follows. How can we claim unity without falling into the same exclusionary practices that have served to create our divisive identifications in the first place? Conversely, how can we relinquish the practices of identification that are based on binary oppositions without losing the ability to claim identities at all? I argue that, by extricating it from its origins in essentialist assumptions, disability culture can be reinvigo rated as a truly emancipatory device, which is capable of devising positive identities which, rather than celebrating the 'disabled identity', rely on its dissolution.     

Middle class identities in a neoliberal age: tensions between contested authenticities

This paper explores in‐depth interviews on aspects of middle class identity in a neoliberal age, taking the case of Chile's rapid and stark transition to a neoliberal economic model which was imposed by a dictatorship but later reproduced during democracy. ¹ The paper reveals that there are no challenges to middle class identities (eg from the working class, or peasants). In this respect, these are neo‐liberal middle class identities in that their way of thinking is preconditioned by market dominance. Informed by Bourdieu's views on class identities, this article emphasises the horizontal, non‐hierarchical nature of contemporary class taste, and contributes to debates on stratification and culture, settling accounts with older class theory which perceives contests between the popular and middle classes. Notwithstanding this, however, I argue that processes of horizontal differentiation do involve tensions between cultural and moral boundaries. This article therefore also offers an alternative approach for exploring how middle class identities experience processes of individualization. It is argued that individualization processes should be placed in social and ethical registers as they could be in tension with various ways of understanding authenticity: being true to oneself or to one's origins.     

Social identities, class identity and political perspectives

There has been considerable controversy over the extent to which class is a salient social identity, and the importance of other social identities Marshall and his colleagues (1988) argue that class identity remains a salient frame of reference in people's daily lives while Saunders (1989;1990) and Emmison and Western (1990) argue that class identity is not as strong as they claim, and the importance of other social identities cannot be denied. However, proponents and opponents in the debate are agreed that the salience of social identities depends upon the context in which they are found which cannot be fully explored in highly-structured interviews. Drawing on data from a ‘qualitative re-study’ of the Affluent Worker series, it will be argued that people have many different identities, including a strong class identity, which co-exist at the same time. That said, their class identity is the most important influence on the formation of political perspectives. This finding concurs with the Essex team and Saunders even though he has sought to distance himself from this conclusion.     

Reconsidering identity: the ethnic and political dimensions of hybridity among majority and Turkish youth in Germany and England1

Sociological research has hitherto largely focused on majority ² and minority ethnic identities or citizenship identities. However, the social connections between youth are not simply ethnic dynamics but also political dynamics involving citizenship categories. This article argues that in postmodern societies, it is important to reconsider the ways we think about youth identities. Drawing upon qualitative data from a study into the political identities of majority (German and British) youth and Turkish youth, educated in two Stuttgart and two London secondary schools, the research found that fifteen‐year‐olds had no singular identity but hybrid ethno‐national, ethno‐local and national‐European identities as a result of governmental policies, their schooling and community experience, social class positioning, ethnicity and migration history. In working‐class educational contexts, many majority and Turkish youth privileged the ethnic dimension of hybridity whereas majority and Turkish youth in the two middle‐class dominated schools emphasized the political dimension of hybridity. The article demonstrates that social class and schooling (e.g. ethos and peer cultures) have a considerable role to play in who can afford to take on the more hybridized cosmopolitan identities on offer.     

Learning to be Palestinian in Athens: constructing national identities in diaspora

In this article I focus on constructions of diasporic national identities and the nation as active and strategic processes using the case study of Palestinians in Athens. I seek, thereby, to contribute to debates on national identity, the nation and long‐distance nationalism, particularly in relation to those in diaspora with a collective cause to advocate. I explore how first‐ and second‐generation Palestinians in Athens construct and narrate Palestinian national identities, the homeland and political unity. I argue that the need to ‘choose’ to be Palestinian, often for political reasons, highlights that the nation is not a ‘given’ entity. This can be a difficult process for those in diaspora to deal with, as there may be tensions between constructions of political unity and attachment to the homeland and feelings of ambivalence and in‐between‐ness that may be seen as politically counterproductive. However, I stress that ‘messy’ and contradictory narratives and spatialities of diasporic national identities that come about as a result of cross‐border or transnational (dis)connections do not necessarily lead to apathy and, therefore, can be important.     

Political Economy of Immigration in Germany: Attitudes and Citizenship Aspirations1

This paper examines resident foreigners’ interest in German citizenship. We use a unique data set from a survey of foreign residents in the German states to study the roles played by factors such as attitudes towards foreigners and political interest of foreigners. We find that negative attitudes towards foreigners and generational conflict within foreigner families are significant negative factors. While interest in political participation is among the important positive factors, hostile attitudes, lack of voting rights, or uncertainty about staying in Germany mainly discourage foreigners who actively participate in the labor market, have more years of schooling, and are younger.     

Accommodating ‘foreigners’: narrative accounts of Berlin's German-born Turkish Ausländer

This paper examines the discursive messages conveyed through everyday encounters among German-born Turkish Ausländer (foreigners) and ethnic Germans in Berlin. Using narrative analysis, I explore how these messages operate to maintain a series of separate and unequal social relations based on gender, ethnicity, religion, and skin colour. The personal experiences of local residents illustrate how these discourses serve to mark some Ausländer as less threatening than others, some as preferable, and others as undesirable. Some Ausländer are also considered more valuable than others, and the status of one often depends on the superior or subordinate status of the other. Through exploring these complexities as experienced by local informants, this paper shows the importance of certain interactive processes that construct Ausländerness in varying ways, while still defining people's identities in relation to norms that privilege the dominant subjects.     

“Who generates this city”? Socialist strategy in contemporary London

This essay, based on a “militant ethnography” of the attempts of the small radical grassroots activist group, Our London (a pseudonym), to mobilize a collective oppositional politics through activities around an election campaign, engages critically with E. Laclau and C. Mouffe's arguments on discourse and collectivity in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (London: Verso, 1985). I argue, on the basis of my findings, that while their model does provide insights that help describe the process of building collectivity from among disparate perspectives and identities, we need to go beyond a focus on discourse alone and consider the ways politics is shaped by material contexts. This is necessary if we are to understand the continued appeal of class politics as well as the difficulties in mobilizing collectivity in highly unequal and fragmented cities. From an activist perspective, the essay also highlights how developing a conception of collective interests and a critique of overarching systems of exploitation can be important in building political unity.     

Race,Wealth, and Class Identification in 21st‐Century American Society

This study examines the determinants of Americans’ subjective class identities, using General Social Survey data from 2006. In particular, this study addresses the question of whether individuals’ objective class positions, including wealth, account for differences in class identification between whites and blacks. The principal finding is that self‐identified blacks have lower odds of identifying as middle class or upper class than self‐identified whites, net of their objective class positions and their class origins. This finding suggests that the class identities of blacks are shaped by experiences of racial discrimination or by other elements of racial inequality.     

Relative Rank‐order of Salient Identities of the Japanese

How are multiple identities of Japanese people rank‐ordered? Previous studies on multiple identities almost exclusively focus on people in the USA. Little is known about the structure of multiple identities of people living in other countries. Japan is a good comparative case because it has both similar and different social contexts than the USA. Analyzing a recent survey of a nationally representative sample of Japanese adults, I examine how multiple identities are rank‐ordered by their salience among the Japanese. The results suggest that among ten identities, the most salient are the family–marital status identity, the occupational identity, and the national identity, while the least salient identities are social class, religious, and political identities. This identity rank‐order differs from that found in a comparable study of Americans in that the rank‐orders of national and religious identities are reversed. The observed patterns also seem to contradict an emerging line of cross‐cultural research that suggests national identity is less important for the Japanese than for Americans. Overall, this paper empirically demonstrates the fundamental dictum of symbolic interactionism that self reflects society, and suggests the importance of specifying and examining country‐level factors to study identity structures.     

Internal Migration in Spain: Dealing with Multilateral Resistance and Nonlinearites

This article investigates the determinants of internal mobility of both foreigners and natives across Spanish provinces over the decade 2004‐14. Building on an extended gravity model, our econometric strategy controls for multilateral resistance to migration by including different fixed effects structures. Additionally, the article allows for some nonlinearities in the key economic determinants of migration, wages and unemployment. The main finding is that the impact of economic factors on internal migration is higher for foreigners than for natives; furthermore, the effect of these factors on internal migration is clearly nonlinear for the group of natives, while this only happens for foreigners when dyadic fixed effects of origin‐destination are considered. Finally, the article shows that the nature of the amenities with the greatest impact on internal movements differs between the two groups: foreigners look for social services and cultural amenities, whereas natives are more attracted by good climate conditions.