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Equality versus Solidarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Paul Spicker
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THE PRINCIPLE OF ‘SOLIDARITY’ IN FRANCE HAS COME TO stand for a justification of social policy in terms of the protection of mutual interests. In the literature of social policy, ‘solidarity’ refers to the establishment of collective action and recognition of mutual responsibility. The principle is often related to egalitarian policies; but the prescriptions of ‘solidarity’ may tend in a very different direction to policies which pursue equality. Equality and solidarity are not necessarily incompatible objectives, but as commonly understood, there is a tension between them which means that each might undermine the other.

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Government and Opposition , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , 01 January 1992, pp. 66 - 77
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Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1992

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References

1 Spicker, P., ‘Solidarity’, in Room, G. (ed.), Towards a European Welfare State?, Bristol, School for Advanced Urban Studies, 1991 Google Scholar.

2 See, e.g., Joseph, K. and Sumption, R., Equality, London, John Murray, 1979 Google Scholar; Letwin, W., Against Equality, London, Macmillan, 1983 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 See Rae, D., Equalities, Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard University Press, 1981 Google Scholar.

4 I have discussed these issues at some length elsewhere: see Spicker, P., ‘Why Freedom Implies Equality’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1985, pp. 205–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Spicker, P., Principles of Social Welfare: An Introduction to Thinking about the Welfare State, London, Routledge, 1988 Google Scholar.

5 Durkheim, E., De la division du travail social, Paris, Presses Universitaires de la France, 1973 Google Scholar.

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10 Olson, M., The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1971 Google Scholar.

11 See Boulding, K., ‘The Boundaries of Social Policy’, in Birrell, W. D., Hillyard, P. A. R., Murie, A. S. and Roche, D. J. D. (eds), Social Administration: Readings in Applied Social Science, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1973 Google Scholar; Titmuss, R. M., Social Policy: An Introdution, London, Allen & Unwin, 1974 Google Scholar.

12 Myrdal, A., cited in Kvist, K. and Agren, G., ‘Social Democracy in the Seventies’, in Fry, J. (ed.), Limits of the Welfare State: Critical Views on Post-war Sweden, Farnborough, Saxon House, 1979, p. 34 Google Scholar.

13 Furniss, N. and Tilton, T., The Case for the Welfare State: From Social Security to Social Equality, Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1979 Google Scholar; their work shows the influence of the Swedish model.

14 See Mossé, E., Les riches et les pauvres, Paris, Editions de Seuil, 1985 Google Scholar; and Alfrandi, op. cit.

15 Dorion, G. and Guionnet, A., La séurité sociale, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1983, p. 104 Google Scholar.

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17 See Le Grand, J., The Strategy of Equality, London, Allen & Unwin, 1982 Google Scholar. Le Grand has also argued that support for the welfare state is contingent on its services to the middle classes: see Le Grand, J., ‘The Future of the Welfare State’, New Society, Vol. 68, 1984, pp. 385–6Google Scholar, and Le Grand, J. and Winter, D., The Middle Classes and the Welfare State, London, LSE Suntory Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines, 1987 Google Scholar.

18 Titmuss, 1974, op. cit.

19 Tawney, R. H., (1931) Equality, London, Unwin, 1964, p. 122 Google Scholar.

20 Mishra, R., Society and Social Policy, London, Macmillan, 2nd ed., 1981 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 See Le Grand, op. cit.

22 Dupeyroux, op. cit., p. 147.

23 See e.g. McLelland, J. (ed.), A Little Pride and Dignity, London, Child Poverty Action Group, 1982 Google Scholar; or Walsh, A. and Lister, R., Mother’s Life Line, London, Child Poverty Action Group, 1985 Google Scholar.

24 Crosland, C. A. R., The Future of Socialism, London, Jonathan Cape, 1956, p. 217 Google Scholar.