Solidarity and care

Abstract Following Chapter 1, which introduced the author’s conception of solidarity and discussed how solidarity is different—and a necessary complement of—justice, this chapter explores the interplay between care and solidarity as foundational concepts for building just and inclusive institutions. While care emphasises relational, embodied, and contextual responses to human needs, solidarity focuses on commonalities between people amidst their differences. The chapter argues that care, though essential for the functioning of societies, can run into limits when it scales up into institutions. Drawing on relational ontologies and critiques of neoliberalism, the chapter advocates for solidaristic institutions that integrate care’s attentiveness with solidarity’s transformative potential. It develops three ‘design principles’ for sustainable arrangements and institutions that articulate and facilitate mutual support.