Social ties in the city. Reconciling solidarity with modern urban society
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2014-08-28
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en
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Solidarity seems to be in jeopardy due to the modern conditions of globalization and urbanization. Social bonds have been growing weaker and city dwellers are less familiar with each other. City life is characterized by high population size, high density and a large degree of diversity, which makes it the potential breeding ground for conflict. Is there still a place for solidarity in modern urban society? By comparing two interpretations of solidarity in modern city life, one by Richard Dagger (1997) and one by Iris Young (1990a), I examine what solidarity could look like given the modern urban conditions. Throughout this thesis I will argue that the modern urban conditions have eroded the traditional grounds for solidarity which were based on sameness and mutual understanding, but that these same conditions gave rise to new forms of solidarity as well. With these new forms of solidarity, modern urban society can be prevented from falling apart, while doing justice to the great diversity of its dwellers. A new way of living together, not face-to-face but side-by-side can provide the ties that bind.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen