Solidarity in Society

Generally speaking the neighborhood is the place for social bonding between people living in a circumscribed space with similar incomes and similar community habits but when they are interdependent because of a division of labor which necessitates they co-operate with each other that is organic solidarity. Today there is still a social cohesiveness among the work staff that are unionized, meet to share their job grievances or even meet to just to fraternize.

The old adage for immigrants coming from the old world countries holds true as there is “ protection in numbers” meaning a sense of having a belonging to their own cultural base especially when they are faced with new challenges in the new country they have moved to. This might characterize a mechanical solidarity when new immigrants mix poorly with their neighbors and have difficulty integrating into the host culture. Lack of learning the language and customs of the new place is a definite drawback to integrating.

Solidarity gave rise to a non political labor union in Poland with the same name for the union. After it began in 1980 Poles gradually resisted communist control over their working rights and this lead to a weakening of the Soviet style socialistic control on their production.

At a political level social solidarity might be understood through an ideal of socialism or a division of power among the workforce so that they are free to determine their own future without being influenced by a ruling class. Public or direct ownership of property, the distribution of resources and production methods by a worker also characterizes socialist thought and theory.

Extending the theory of mechanical solidarity to cities like Montreal, mechanical solidarity would be likened to fixed neighborhood mentalities where people kept to their own cultures and mixing outside that culture was limited. It was prevalent in the days of early migration because people relied on ethnic, religious and social commonalities. Kinship, a characteristic of organic solidarity played a strong role in keeping these neighborhood social bonds from breaking.

Mechanical solidarity on the other hand meant that the social bonds were created because of the similarities within the group. If every one would dress and act alike that tended to confirm this solidarity in groups where dress codes would be understood as common and their expression of traditional events would be quite similar or close to identical.