# Solidarity and Selfishness By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-04-21 Solidarity understood as the awareness of shared interests resulting in unity within a class of people, is difficult to achieve and maintain. When thinking about solidarity, examining how selfishness can foster and hinder it is beneficial. Selfishness, or at least self-interestedness, can contribute to the development of solidarity when one realizes there is strength in unity. Vulnerable members of society often band together to protect and care for each other. A self-interested individual could examine the relative risks and rewards associated with various ways of going through life and determine that joining in solidarity with others is to one’s benefit. However, this same self-interestedness, or selfishness, could undermine solidarity. Unity is more than just a collection of individuals pursuing their self-interest. If one looks for individual advantage, one lacks commitment to the group. If such actions are pervasive, it is doubtful the group will maintain solidarity for long or will be able to accomplish much through their collaboration. Selfishness can contribute to the desire to be in solidarity with others and undermine the basis of that solidarity. Perhaps a quick litmus test for the solidarity/selfishness divide comes down to the notion of “better.” Suppose one wants to have better (fill in the blank) than one is driven by self-interest. If one wants quality (fill in the blank) for all, then one is driven by solidarity. One doesn’t need, or might not even want, healthcare that is better than somebody else’s if one receives quality healthcare. One doesn’t need, or might not even want, to have education that is better than somebody else’s if one receives quality education. This list could extend indefinitely. College dormitories are nearly egalitarian. One room is just about as good as another. People will add decorations to make it their own, but they seldom attempt to project that one’s dorm is better than another. Few people care. Most are enjoying being in college. They feel safe and comfortable in their dorm, and it meets or exceeds their needs. The same isn’t true for one’s home. Somewhere along the way, the focus becomes status. One’s house doesn’t just meet one’s needs; it projects relative status. The classic “Keeping Up with the Joneses” kicks in. This is not an exclusively capitalist phenomenon. Utopian societies become plagued by the snobbery of minor differences as well. Concerns with status seem to be unavoidably human. Solidarity doesn’t mean everybody is the same. The focus on solidarity should not be sameness. Hierarchies will always exist. The purpose of solidarity is to ensure that the pursuit of one’s self-interest doesn’t result in the degradation of others. Rich and poor can attend the same public school; the smartest and hardest-working individual will still be the valedictorian. Solidarity is about wanting to provide quality education to all. Self-interestedness is about wanting to fulfill one’s aptitudes to the fullest. There doesn’t have to be a conflict between these two. Ensuring that there isn’t requires more care than most people want to expend. #### Related Items [[Solidarity]] [[Selfishness]] [[Society]] [[Status]] [[Class]]