Emile Durkheim in the Age of Diversity, Inclusion, and Nationalism: Or, Why the Need for Durkheimian Solidarity Is Greater Than Ever

I explore the nature and place of human rights, global ethics, and social solidarity in the work of Emile Durkheim and, more generally, its relevance in the face of such contemporary challenges as the rise of nationalism, climate change, economic exploitation, and oppressive racism and xenophobia. I will argue that, from a Durkheimian point of view, the concept of “solidarity” is neither quaint nor irrelevant for societies marked by religious, cultural, ethnic and racial diversity. Indeed, I will maintain that for progressive democracies to survive and thrive, solidarity is required; and that diversity and inclusion, and the human rights and global ethics associated with these goods, does not lessen but increases the need for solidarity.

After presenting Durkheim’s claim that at the micro, epistemological level and at the macro, social level, forms of solidarity are already in place in modern democracies, I will explore the more pressing, normative question “What kinds of solidarity do we already have, and what kinds should we have?” This normative question will entail addressing Durkheim's approach to such fundamental issues as the relation between individual rights and global justice as well as the relation between solidarity at the local, national, and global spheres.