Social Cohesion Contested

In a wide-ranging text, Dan Swain and Petr Urban provide an impressive critical analysis of the notion of social cohesion increasingly invoked in analysis and policy in relation to rising concerns about the sustainability and stability of late modern social life. Social Cohesion Contested is an invaluable text for challenging understandings of our increasingly precarious times. --Barry Smart, professor of sociology, Centre for European and International Studies, University of Portsmouth In this book, Dan Swain and Petr Urban disentangle the dominant concept of social cohesion, as one of stability against singular threats, in social policy and academic research tracing its current reappearance to the pandemic. They rigorously map the limits of abstract universalist understanding of social cohesion as instrumentalist, and its contextually rooted particularist counterpart as erasing its distinctness. They ably underscore the quandaries beneath its claims to scientific authority and normative legitimacy, as they critically unfold the histories of social cohesion. Swain and Urban reveal these histories to be intersecting, as they move beyond the European context of social cohesion to reflect on its global ramifications in the approaches of international bodies aiming at development. They caution that good intentions notwithstanding, policies based on a singular concept of social cohesion emphasizing measurement are restrictive in neglecting social diversity, especially in non-Western contexts. Although a picture of gloom emerges in their detailed account of the hegemonic model of social cohesion, Swain and Urban urge their readers to philosophically and critically reflect on notions of progress, freedom and civil society that center around social cohesion. Aptly showing critique and reconstruction as two dimensions of what W.B. Gallie terms as an 'essentially contested' concept, they suggest that the notion of social cohesion be rethought in more democratic and participatory ways. Social Cohesion Contested is a thought-provoking account of social cohesion that establishes the lens of interdisciplinarity as integral to its project. As a timely and important work, this book is indispensable for systematically reflecting on social cohesion. It offers hope in these troubled times by bringing theory and practice together. A must read for both social scientists and philosophers! --Kanchana Mahadevan, professor of philosophy, University of Mumbai In Social Cohesion Contested, Dan Swain and Petr Urban problematize the taken-for-granted concept of social cohesion. They argue social cohesion narratives often unwittingly romanticize and reify an oppressive status quo, thus skirting democratic deliberation and critique. Social theorists of all disciplines will find this a timely and insightful contribution. --Maurice Hamington, professor of philosophy, Portland State University Is social cohesion a reality or just a trade name? The question arises at a time when equality, equity, access to fundamental rights and economic well-being for all seem to have become empty concepts. In order to respond to this challenge, and with the most scrupulous rigor, Urban and Swain examine whether horizontal practices of solidarity and mutual aid do not succeed where states fail. A must read. --Catherine Malabou, Kingston University and University of California at Irvine This elegant book shows how the concept of social cohesion has become an unquestioned policy aim through perceptive analyses of its use in various regional and international institutions since the 1990s. It can be read by politicians, researchers, leading civil servants and interested academics alike. The book offers a fresh and much-needed critical perspective to current policy discourses and to the technocratic role of social research in their diffusion. It reminds us of the value of political debates about the good society, where no concept is ever settled--and of the significant role of self-reflexive social science research. --Hanne Marlene Dahl, professor and head of the Doctoral School at the Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University and leader of Crossroads of Care and Social Reproduction (CARE) This thought-provoking book urges a critical view on social cohesion. While cohesion appears preferable to conflict, the authors convincingly demonstrate how political efforts to promote it can result in injustices and exclusions, hampering a legitimate approach to diversity in liberal-democratic societies. A highly valuable contribution to academic and public debates. --Matteo Gianni, professor of political science, University of Geneva What social cohesion means depends on who is using the term. The more often it's taught as a concept in policy intervention programs, the more vigilant we need to be regarding its use. What meanings are being pushed or erased? What tacit normality and intentions dominate? This book provides the tools to answer those questions. --Andries Baart, professor of presence and care, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, and North-West University, South Africa