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Solidarity: The Work of Recognition
Not yet published
Expected 26 May 26Rowan Williams explores the major and timely idea of solidarity in this impassioned work.
Solidarity is both an idea and a way of acting in in the world, both a condition and a virtue. From its use in the labour movement as a rallying cry to the rhetoric of empathy, allyship and identification prevalent on contemporary social media, 'solidarity' is invoked as the answer to inequality, conflict and even climate crisis. But, as Rowan Williams argues in this impassioned work, it's only by exploring how we are able to speak with and work alongside each other that we can unlock the real power of solidarity as a model for real community and care.
Tracing the myriad of ways in which solidarity has been understood, from its roots in the French Revolution, through the positivism of August Comté and Emile Durkheim, to resistance against the Nazis and Communism, Polish workers' rights movements and the Nueva Solidaridad in Mexico City, Williams shows how understanding solidarity is an ongoing labour of self-scrutiny and communication in which difference and strangeness are affirmed, not elided.
This insistence that solidarity requires recognition – in the deepest sense – is an impassioned one; true recognition is not claiming they are 'just like us' but joining with their claim that they 'are themselves'. And it is in this recognition, one which is also capable of encompassing the non-human, that true hope for the future can be found.
Solidarity is both an idea and a way of acting in in the world, both a condition and a virtue. From its use in the labour movement as a rallying cry to the rhetoric of empathy, allyship and identification prevalent on contemporary social media, 'solidarity' is invoked as the answer to inequality, conflict and even climate crisis. But, as Rowan Williams argues in this impassioned work, it's only by exploring how we are able to speak with and work alongside each other that we can unlock the real power of solidarity as a model for real community and care.
Tracing the myriad of ways in which solidarity has been understood, from its roots in the French Revolution, through the positivism of August Comté and Emile Durkheim, to resistance against the Nazis and Communism, Polish workers' rights movements and the Nueva Solidaridad in Mexico City, Williams shows how understanding solidarity is an ongoing labour of self-scrutiny and communication in which difference and strangeness are affirmed, not elided.
This insistence that solidarity requires recognition – in the deepest sense – is an impassioned one; true recognition is not claiming they are 'just like us' but joining with their claim that they 'are themselves'. And it is in this recognition, one which is also capable of encompassing the non-human, that true hope for the future can be found.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 26, 2026
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About the author
Rowan Williams
266 books355 followersRowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, is an Anglican bishop, poet, and theologian. He was Archbishop of Canterbury from December 2002-2012, and is now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the University of South Wales.
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Review of advance copy
An academic and intellectual approach to solidarity. I didn’t enjoy it as much as many of Rowan Williams’ other books but this is probably just personal preference rather than this book being objectively worse. I’d probably give it 3.5 stars if I could, with most of Williams’ getting 5 stars from me. I think it would have benefited from more real life examples and stories to illustrate the points he makes. Just personal preference though.
Displaying 1 of 1 review