Assessing the glue that holds society together: social cohesion arguments in liberal democracy
Abstract
The article addresses social cohesion (SC) as a given political good in liberal democracies. It analyzes arguments based on SC by discussing a scientific and a political discourse on SC and the adjacent literature. The analysis identifies shared premises in conceptions and usage of SC, showing that the concept is both analytically flawed and highly normative. Next, it assesses the function of the concept in both discourses and argues that it raises problems for liberal democracy. The article concludes that SC clashes with several political values of liberal democracy and that liberals should question the worth of SC as a result. Artiklen adresserer social sammenhængskraft (SC) som et givet politisk gode i liberale demokratier. Den analyserer argumenter baseret på SC ved at portrættere en videnskabelig og en politisk diskurs om SC samt den tilknyt-tede litteratur. Analysen identificerer delte præmisser i konceptualiseringer og brugen af SC, hvilket både viser, at begrebet er analytisk mangelfuldt og særdeles normativt. Derefter vurderer den begrebets funktion i begge diskurser og argumenterer for, at den rejser problemer for liberalt demokrati. Artiklen konkluderer, at SC kolliderer med adskillige politiske værdier i liberalt demokrati, hvorfor liberale bør stille spørgsmålstegn ved værdien af SC.Downloads
Published
2013-12-08
How to Cite
Gregersen, K. (2013). Assessing the glue that holds society together: social cohesion arguments in liberal democracy. Journal of Media, Cognition and Communication, 1(2). Retrieved from https://tidsskrift.dk/mef-journal/article/view/28621
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Artikler
License
Creative Commons: CC by-nc-nd