| This book is the result of more than ten years of research and teaching about the themes of the gift and solidarity. It all started in 1992 when, in conversations with anthropologist Willy Jansen, I was put on the track of the gift literature. This was followed by an invitation from the Dutch newspaper Trouw on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary to conduct astud y into gift giving in the Netherlands, together with the sociologist Kees Schuyt. The theme proved not only interesting because of its interdisciplinarity and theoretical richness but also surprisingly mundane and amusing. Suddenly it was less sinking to be asked about “your work”: everybody gives gifts to others, and everybody has something to tell about totally wrong gifts received or about dubious motives to give a gift to another person. During the second half of the 1990s a remarkable development occurred in the political tide inHolland: after having led a hidden existence during several decades, the themes of solidarity and social cohesion suddenly came to be exposed in full daylight. A broadly felt concern about the current state of social cohesion and solidarity in our society gave rise to extensive political and public debate. Policy documents were written and plans were made to counter the perceived threat of a dissolving community and diminished citizenship. Both the Dutch government and the DutchCouncil of Scientific Research reserved money for research in the field of social cohesion and solidarity.
This book brings together two traditions of thinking about social ties: sociological theory on solidarity and anthropological theory on gift exchange. The purpose of the book is to explore both how theoretical traditions may complete and enrich each other, and how they may illuminate transformations in solidarity. The main argument, supported by empirical illustrations, is that a theory of solidarity should incorporate some of the core insights from anthropological gift theory. The book presents a theoretical model covering both positive and negative - selective and excluding - aspects and consequences of solidarity. It is concluded that over the past century solidarity has undergone a fundamental transformation, from Durkheim's 'organic' solidarity to a type of solidarity which can be called 'segmented': separate, autonomous social segments connecting with other segments, no longer out of necessity and mutual dependency but on the basis of individual choice. Solidarity has, thereby, become more noncomittal.
About the Author
Aafke E. Komter is professor and endowed chair of Comparative Studies of Social Solidarity at Utrecht University, and head of the Department of Social Science at University College, Utrecht. Her articles on informal giving, reciprocity and solidarity, power, morality and gender issues have appeared in international journals such as Sociology, the Journal of Marriage and the Family and the Journal of Family Issues. She is editor of The Gift: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. |
