Uses and misuses of the notion of solidarity in relation to migration

Since Durkheim stated that solidarity is the constitutive relationship of society, the notion has been at the heart of the theoretical paradigms of the discipline and of its structuring oppositions: individualism/holism, community/society, egoism/altruism etc. In modern societies, the moral constraint of the duty of solidarity is, according to Durkheim, the condition of social integration. However, it manifests itself in two ways: the interest in associating and what he calls the pleasure of communing, for a shared moral life. From this fundamental ambivalence, we will focus on the uses of the notion of solidarity in migration policies and actions in support of immigrants. Through the discourses of different actors (States, European institutions, volunteer associations), we will examine the ambiguity of calls for solidarity between openness and protectionism ("solidarity with" and "solidarity against"), the different conceptions of the Us/Them relationship that underlie them, the internal contradictions between the values that these actors mobilize to translate their conception of solidarity and their political or militant practices (between denunciation and humanitarian action or between political identities based on human rights and the dehumanization of the other).

Keywords: solidarity; migration; border; EU policy; NGO; Durkheim

Jocelyne Streiff-Fénart, Usages et mésusages de la notion de solidarité en contexte migratoire in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2021, pp 9-21, DOI: 10.3280/MM2021-003001