Identity, Causality and Social Cohesion

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identity, Causality and Social Cohesion

AU - Holtug, Nils

PY - 2017/5/19

Y1 - 2017/5/19

N2 - According to the Identity Thesis, sharing an identity tends to promote social cohesion. The article focuses on two aspects of social cohesion, namely trust and solidarity. It distinguishes between different versions of the Identity Thesis that differ regarding the causal efficacy attributed to specific values and the sharing of values, and with respect to the value sets that may be fed into the thesis (relying on work in political theory on nationalism, liberalism and multiculturalism). Having established the existence of different versions of the thesis, four different accounts of why shared identities could be expected to promote social cohesion are considered and assessed.

AB - According to the Identity Thesis, sharing an identity tends to promote social cohesion. The article focuses on two aspects of social cohesion, namely trust and solidarity. It distinguishes between different versions of the Identity Thesis that differ regarding the causal efficacy attributed to specific values and the sharing of values, and with respect to the value sets that may be fed into the thesis (relying on work in political theory on nationalism, liberalism and multiculturalism). Having established the existence of different versions of the thesis, four different accounts of why shared identities could be expected to promote social cohesion are considered and assessed.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Social cohesion

KW - identity

KW - nationalism

KW - liberalism

KW - multiculturalism

U2 - 10.1080/1369183x.2016.1227697

DO - 10.1080/1369183x.2016.1227697

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1369-183X

VL - 43

SP - 1084

EP - 1100

JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

IS - 7

ER -