This article explores a particular connection between friendship and social solidarity and seeks to contribute to understanding the societal significance of non-institutionalised relationships. Commonly the benefits of friendship are assumed to accrue to friends only. But this is only part of the story. Friendship, as instantiation of intimacy and site of moral learning, is conducive to solidarity understood as felt concern for unknown others. That potentiality rests on a specific characteristic: friendship’s loose institutional anchorage. Beginning with an explanation of friendship’s institutional deficit, the article elaborates Durkheim’s ‘positive solidarity’ juxtaposed with Honneth’s recent take on solidarity. It then discusses the contribution (partial) personal relationships make to (impartial) morality, before turning to the specifics of moral learning in friendship. Finally, the article argues that although undesirable as social organising principle, friendship’s institutional deficit renders it conducive to the relational acquisition of a comprehensive understanding of solidarity.
AbbottO. (2020). The self as the locus of morality: A comparison between Charles Taylor and George Herbert Mead’s theories of the moral constitution of the self. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12258
2.
AdornoT. W. (2005). Minima moralia: Reflections on a damaged life. Verso.
3.
AdornoT. W. (2014). Problems of moral philosophy (SchroderT., Ed.). Polity.
4.
AlberoniF. (2016). Friendship (BlattererH.MagaraggiaS., Trans & Eds) Brill.
5.
AllanG. (1979). Sociology of friendship and kinship. Allen & Unwin.
6.
AllanG. (2008). Flexibility, friendship, and family. Personal Relationships, 15(1), 1–16.
7.
Aristotle. (2012). Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics (BartlettR. C.CollinsS., Trans), University of Chicago Press.
8.
BalzariniR. N.CampbellL.KohutT.HolmesB. M.LehmillerJ. L.HarmanJ. J.AtkinsN. (2017). Perceptions of primary and secondary relationships in polyamory. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177841
9.
BayertzK. (1999). Four uses of 'solidarity'. BayertzK. (Ed.), Solidarity (pp. 3–28). Kluwer Academic.
10.
BellahR. N.MadsenR.SullivanW. M. (2007). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. University of California Press.
11.
BidartC. (1997). L´amitié un lien social (Friendship, a social bond). La Découverte.
12.
BlattererH. (2013). Friendship's freedom and gendered limits. European Journal of Social Theory, 16(4), 435–456.
13.
BlattererH. (2015). Everyday friendships: Intimacy as freedom in a complex world. Palgrave Macmillan.
14.
BlattererH. (2018). Friendship, recognition and social freedom. Critical Horizons, 19(3), 198–214.
15.
BlattererH. (2019). Do political theorists have friends? Towards a redefinition of political friendship. Thesis Eleven, 151, 50–68.
16.
BlumL. (1980). Friendship, altruism, and morality. Routledge.
17.
BrainR. (1976). Friends and lovers. Hart-Davis MacGibbon.
18.
BrudneyD. (2014). The Young Marx and the middle-aged Rawls. ReidyD.MandleJ. (Eds), A Companion to Rawls (pp. 450–471). Wiley-Blackwell.
19.
BrunkhorstH. (2005). Solidarity: From civic friendship to a global legal community. MIT Press.
20.
BukowskiW. M.NewcombA. F.HartupW. W. (1996). The company they keep: Friendships in childhood and adolescence. Cambridge University Press.
21.
CartledgeP. (2016). Democracy: A life. Oxford University Press.
22.
CockingD.KennettJ. (1998). Friendship and the self. Ethics, 108(3), 502–527.
23.
CohenY. A. (1961). Patterns of friendship. CohenY. A. (Ed.), Social structure and personality: A casebook (pp. 351–386). Holt Rinehart Winston.
24.
DemirM.OzenA.ProcsalA. D. (2014). Friendship and happiness. MichalosA. C. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being (pp. 2359–2363). Springer.
25.
DerridaJ. (2005). Politics of friendship. Verso.
26.
DigeserP. E. (2016). Friendship reconsidered: What it means and how it matters to politics. Columbia University Press.
27.
DurkheimE. (1978). Introduction to morality. TraugottM. (Ed.), Emile Durkheim on institutional analysis (pp. 191–204). University of Chicago Press.
28.
DurkheimE. (2013). The division of labour in society (LukesS., Ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
29.
DuveenG. (2013). Children’s understanding of friendship. MoscoviciS.JovchelovitchS.WagonerB. (Eds), Development as social process: Contributions of Gerard Duveen (pp. 3–26). Routledge.
FreitagM.TraunmüllerR. (2009). Spheres of trust: An empirical analysis of the foundations of particularised and generalised trust. European Journal of Political Research, 48(6), 782–803.
32.
FriedmanM. (1993). What are friends for? Feminist perspectives on personal relationships and moral theory. Cornell University Press.
33.
GarfieldR. (2015). Breaking the male code: Unlocking the power of friendship. Penguin.
34.
GarfinkelH. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Wiley-Blackwell.
35.
GibbsJ. C. (2014). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Oxford University Press.
36.
GilliganC. (1993). In a different voice. Harvard University Press.
37.
GoodrichP. (2003). Laws of friendship. Law & Literature, 15, 23–52.
38.
GreenhouseC. J. (2011). Durkheim and law: Divided readings over division of labor. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 7, 165–185.
39.
GreifG. L. (2009). Buddy system: Understanding male friendships. Oxford University Press.
40.
HabermasJ. (1981). The theory of communicative action: Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason. Beacon Press.
41.
HabermasJ. (1989). Justice and solidarity: On the discussion concerning stage 6. WrenT. E.EdelsteinW.Nunner-WinklerG. (Eds), The moral domain: Essays in the ongoing discussion between philosophy and the social sciences (pp. 224–252). MIT Press.
42.
HabermasJ. (1996). Between facts and Norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. MIT Press.
43.
HonnethA. (2007a). Between justice and affection: The family as a field of moral disputes. Disrespect: The normative foundations of critical theory (pp. 144–162). Polity Press.
44.
HonnethA. (2007b). Love and morality: On the moral content of emotional ties. Disrespect. The normative foundations of critical theory (pp. 163–180). Polity Press.
45.
HonnethA. (2017). The idea of socialism. Polity.
46.
HonnethA. (2019). Recognition, democracy and social liberty: A reply. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 45(6), 694–708.
47.
HonnethA.RösslerB. (2008). Von Person zu person: Zur Moralität Persönlicher Beziehungen (From person to person: On the morality of personal relationships). Suhrkamp.
48.
IgnatieffM. (1984). The needs of strangers. Chatto & Windus.
49.
IllouzE. (1997). Consuming the romantic utopia: Love and the cultural contradictions of capitalism. University of California Press.
50.
IllouzE. (2008). Saving the modern soul: Therapy, emotions, and the culture of self-help. University of California Press.
51.
IllouzE. (2012). Why love hurts. Polity Press.
52.
JohanssonE. (2008). Morality and gender: Preschool children’s moral contracts. SarachoO. (Ed.), Contemporary perspectives on socialization and social development in early childhood education (pp. 267–300). Information Age Publishing.
53.
KaufmannJ.-C. (2009). Gripes: The little quarrels of couples. Polity Press.
54.
KellerM.EdelsteinW. (1991). The emergence of morality in personal relationships. WrenT. E.EdelsteinW.Nunner-WinklerG. (Eds), The moral domain: Essays in the ongoing discussion between philosophy and the social sciences (pp. 255–282). MIT Press.
55.
KimmelM. (2004). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. RothenbergP. S. (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (pp. 81–93). Worth.
56.
KingP. (2007). Friendship in politics. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 10(2), 125–145.
57.
KohlbergL. (1981). Essays on moral development: The philosophy of moral development. Moral stages and the idea of justice. Harper and Row.
58.
KonI. S. (1979). Freundschaft: Geschichte und Sozialpsychology der Freundschaft als soziale Institution und individuelle Beziehung (Friendship: History and social psychology). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag.
59.
KracauerS. (2011). Über die Freundschaft (On friendship). Mülder-BachI. (Ed.), Werke (pp. 29–59). Suhrkamp.
60.
KurthS. B. (1970). Friendships and friendly relations. McCallG. J.McCallM. M.DenzinN. K. (Eds), Social relationships (pp. 135–170). Aldine.
61.
LaFolletteH. (1996). Personal relationships: Love, identity and morality. Blackwell.
62.
LeibE. J. (2011). Friend v. friend: The transformation of friendship and what the law has to do with it. Oxford University Press.
63.
LuckmannT. (2002). Moral communication in modern societies. Human Studies, 25, 19–32.
64.
LuhmannN. (2010). Love: A sketch. Polity Press.
65.
LuhmannN. (2014). Vertrauen: Ein Mechanismus der Reduktion sozialer Komplexität(Trust: A Mechanism for the Reduction of Social Complexity). UVK.
66.
MalloryP. (2012). Political friendship in the era of ‘the social’: Theorizing personal relations with Alexis de Tocqueville. Journal of Classical Sociology, 12(1), 22–42.
67.
MargalitA. (1996). The decent society. Harvard University Press.
68.
MarkusM. R. (2001). Decent society and/or civil society?Social Research, 68(4), 1011–1030.
69.
MarkusM. R. (2010a). Can solitude be recaptured for the sake of intimacy?BlattererH.JohnsonP.MarkusM. R. (Eds), Modern privacy: Shifting boundaries, new forms (pp. 88–101). Palgrave Macmillan.
70.
MarkusM. R. (2010b). Lovers and friends: ‘Radical utopias’ of intimacy?Thesis Eleven, 101(1), 6–23.
71.
MartinJ. L. (2009). Social structures. Princeton University Press.
72.
MeadG. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. University of Chicago Press.
73.
MillerH. (1961). Tropic of Capricorn. Grove Press.
74.
MullerJ.-W. (2007). Constitutional patriotism. Princeton University Press.
75.
NicolaisenM.ThorsenK. (2017). What are friends for? Friendships and loneliness over the lifespan – from 18 to 79 years. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development84(2), 126–158.
76.
NussbaumM. C. (1992). Love’s knowledge: Essays on philosophy and literature. Oxford University Press.
77.
NussbaumM. C. (1996). For love of country? (CohenJ., Ed.). Beacon Press.
78.
PahlR. (1998). Friendship: The social glue of contemporary society? FranklinJ. (Ed.), The politics of risk society (pp. 99–119). Polity.
79.
PaineR. (1974). An exploratory analysis in ‘middle-class’ culture. LeytonE. (Ed.), The compact: Selected dimensions of friendship (pp. 117–137). Toronto University Press.
PiagetJ. (1932). The moral judgement of the child. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
82.
PierceA. J. (2018). Justice without solidarity? Collective identity and the fate of the ‘ethical’ in Habermas’ recent political theory. European Journal of Philosophy, 26(1), 546–568.
83.
RawlinsW. K. (1992). Friendship matters: Communication, dialectics, and the life course. Transaction Publishers.
84.
RawlsJ. (1963). The sense of justice. The Philosophical Review, 72(3), 281–305.
85.
RosaH. (2019). Resonance: A sociology of our relationship to the world. Wiley.
86.
RundellJ. (2019). Celebrating imagination: Elective affinities between Agnes Heller and Cornelius Castoriadis. Or: On ‘warm blooded animals’—Kant, Castoriadis and Agnes Heller [Unpublished paper].
87.
SchamaS. (1989). Citizens: A chronicle of the French Revolution. Alfred A. Knopf.
88.
SchwarzenbachS. A. (2010). On civic friendship: Including women in the state. Columbia University Press.
89.
ScramagliaR. (2000). Falling in love and friendship in children and adolescents. HahnK.BurkatG. (Eds), Grenzen und Grenzüberschreitungen der Liebe: Studien zur Soziologie Intimer Beziehungen II (pp. 101–134). Leske + Budrich.
90.
SenA. K. (1999). Democracy as a universal value. Journal of democracy, 10(3), 3–17.
91.
ShklarJ. N. (1998). Redeeming American political thought. University of Chicago Press.
92.
SilverA. (1990). Friendship in commercial society: Eighteenth-century social theory and modern sociology. American Journal of Sociology, 95(6), 1474–1504.
93.
SilverA. (1996). ‘Two different sorts of commerce’––Friendship and strangership in civil society. WeintraubJ.KumarK. (Eds), Public and private in thought and practice: Perspectives on a grand dichotomy (pp. 43–74). University of Chicago Press.
94.
SimmelG. (1906). The sociology of secrecy and of secret societies. The American Journal of Sociology, 11(4), 441–498.
95.
SimmelG. (1950). The sociology of georg simmel. WolffK. (Ed.), Free Press.
96.
SimmelG. (1993). Die Gesellschaft zu zweien [The society of two]. RammstedtO.CavalliA.KrechV. (Eds), Georg Simmel Gesamtausgabe (Vol. 8, pp. 348–354). Suhrkamp.
97.
SirgyJ. M. (2012). The psychology of quality of life: Hedonic well-being, life satisfaction and eudaimonia. Springer.
98.
SmartC.DaviesK.BrianH. (2012). Difficult friendship and ontological security. The Sociological Review Online, 60(1), 91–109.
99.
SmithA. (2006). The theory of moral sentiments. Dover Publications.
100.
SmithG. M. (2011). Friendship and the world of states. International Politics, 48(1), 10–27.
101.
SpäterJ. (2020). Kracauer: A biography. Polity.
102.
SpencerL. (2006). Rethinking friendship: Hidden solidarities today. Princeton University Press.
103.
StjernøS. (2005). Solidarity in Europe: The history of an idea. Cambridge University Press.
104.
StockerM. (1976). The schizophrenia of modern ethical theories. The Journal of Philosophy, 73(14), 453–466.
105.
SuttlesG. D. (1970). Friendship as a social institution. McCallG. J.McCallM. M.DenzinN. K. (Eds), Social Relationships (pp. 95–135). Aldine.
106.
SwidlerA. (2001). Talk of love: How culture matters. University of Chicago Press.
107.
VellemanD. (1999). Love as moral emotion. Ethics, 109(2), 338–374.
108.
VernonM. (2006). The philosophy of friendship. Palgrave Macmillan.
109.
WalkerD. I.CurrenR.JonesC. (2016). Good friendships among children: A theoretical and empirical investigation. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 46(3), 286–309.
110.
WellmanC. H. (2001). Friends, compatriots, and special political obligations. Political Theory, 29(2), 217–236.
111.
WildeL. (2013). Global solidarity. Edinburgh University Press.
112.
WilkinsonJ. (2019). The public life of friendship: Work, neighbourhood and civil society. Palgrave Macmillan.
113.
WilliamsB. (1981). Moral luck: Philosophical papers 1973-1980. Cambridge University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
