Durkheim's Empire

The Concept of Solidarity and Its Colonial Dimension

Bibliographic Data

ID3700518
AuthorsRouven Symank (0000-0002-7778-9236, Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume119
Issue3
Pages1361-1374
Publication date2025-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055424001023
OpenAlexW4404245923
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited56

This article challenges prevailing national interpretations of solidarity by examining its colonial dimensions. Employing the Durkheimian school as a historical lens, I demonstrate how the colonial context during the Third Republic shaped the emergence and application of solidarity as a scientific concept. Informed by colonial ethnographies, solidarity was not merely a sociological self-description within European nations; it also formed part of political agendas beyond Europe. I illustrate how Durkheim's concept was utilized to enhance scientific understanding of colonized societies, aiding French colonial administrators in promoting developmentalist reforms. As national models extended internationally, solidarity evolved from social cohesion to economic integration within the international legal order. This progression toward modern solidarity-and the injustices it entailed-appeared inevitable, masking political struggles for self-determination. By critically recontextualizing solidarity, this analysis contributes to contemporary political theory debates, demonstrating its application in supporting an inclusive legal-economic agenda while failing to systematically confront colonial injustices

Colonialism · Dimension (graph theory · Empire · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Pure mathematics · Sociology · Solidarity · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory

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