University of Groningen Inequality and Solidarity Fink, Simon; Klein, Lars
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University of Groningen Inequality and Solidarity Fink, Simon; Klein, Lars; de Jong, Janny; Waal, van der, Margriet IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2020 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Fink, S., Klein, L., de Jong, J., & Waal, van der, M. (Eds.) (2020). Inequality and Solidarity: Selected Texts Presented at the Euroculture Intensive Programme 2019 . (2020 ed.) Euroculture consortium. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). 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Download date: 05-10-2021 Inequality and Solidarity Selected Texts Presented at the Euroculture Intensive Programme 2019 Edited by Simon Fink and Lars Klein Inequality and Solidarity Selected Papers Presented at Euroculture Intensive Programme 2019 Edited by Simon Fink and Lars Klein With contributions by Annika Hack, Dorottya Kósa, Joyce Pepe, Arianna Rizzi, Fleur Schellekens, Hanna Schlegel, Sophie Sievert-Kloster, Nemanja Milošević, Irene Signorelli and Andrea Catalina Tafur Pedraza © Euroculture Consortium, 2020 All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a database or retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Volume editor: Simon Fink and Lars Klein Series editors: Janny de Jong and Margriet van der Waal Set, Layout, Cover design: Lars Klein Front- and Backcover Photo: Humanity Wall. Ghent, Belgium. Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash Design logo IP: Juan M. Sarabia Coordinating institution: EMJMD “Euroculture – Society, Politics and Culture in a Global Context” Georg-August-University Göttingen Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3 37073 Göttingen, Germany www.euroculturemaster.eu www.uni-goettingen.de/euroculture/ Repository University Library Groningen: https://rug.on.worldcat.org/discovery ISBN: 978-94-034-2839-0 Table of Contents Simon Fink / Lars Klein Introduction 5 1 Normative dimensions of inequality and solidarity Dorottya Kósa Global Citizenship Education as a tool to increase solidarity in the European Union 11 Sophie Sievert-Kloster Intersectional Discrimination in European Union Law: Towards Redressing Complex Forms of Inequality? 33 Joyce Pepe Feeding Inequality: Do EU Quality Schemes Do More Harm Than Good? 57 2 Material bases of inequality and solidarity Irene Signorelli A broader concept of Water Diplomacy: The European Union role in Gaza water-led humanitarian crisis 77 4 Table of contents Annika Hack Inequality on Display? Politics of Re-Presentation in the Humboldt Forum 101 3 Discursive constructions of inequality and solidarity Jelmer Herms Eurosceptic Dreams of Solidarity: Intensifying Transnational Populist Discourse During the European Parliamentary Elections 135 Fleur Schellekens The Visual Depiction of Refugees in Dutch Newspapers: Analyzing and Comparing Visuals in a Right-wing and Left-wing newspaper 159 Hanna Schlegel Women and Equal Citizenship: Discourses on Abortion in Germany and Poland in the 1990s 183 Andrea Catalina Tafur Pedraza New Media platforms and the re-imagination of transnational solidarity? 203 Arianna Rizzi Identities on the move: The impact of Interrail on the Europeanness of travelers 237 Nemanja Milošević Wealth Inequality and Fictional TV Content in Serbia 266 About the Contributors 284 Introduction: Dimensions of Inequality and Solidarity This collection of scholarly essays is the product of the Euroculture IP (IP) 2019, held at the University of Olomouc, and organized jointly by the Euroculture teams at Georg-August-University Göttingen, Palacky University Olomouc and Savitribai Phule Pune University. During the IP, students presented their research papers in peer groups, guided by experienced academics. With the help of the teaching staff, we have chosen the essays in this volume as the most innovative and best researched papers. The overarching topic of the IP 2019 was “Inequality and Solidarity”. One of the promises of modern capitalist democracies was – and still is – that they try to alleviate problems of inequality. Especially the postwar European welfare states promised to generate more equality by social, educational, and regulatory measures. However, this promise, embedded in both policies and discourses, encountered major problems. First, inequality has often been conceptualized along the classical materialist left-right axis, targeting equality between social classes along a workers vs. capital view of the world. Other cleavages like gender equality, migrants vs. local population, or winners of globalization vs. losers of globalization (which may not be the same as workers vs. capital, as it pitches workers in different sectors against each other) have been neglected. Second, maybe even the “old” class-based notion of equality has lost its traction due to the ascent of the neoliberal worldview. Social policies are under pressure of 6 Fink / Klein austerity measures, discourses of solidarity give way to discourses about the benefits of competition and free markets. Third, the “old” European welfare state discourse has always neglected the global dimension of inequality. Much of Europe´s prosperity was – and is – due to neocolonial economic relations that outsource socially and environmentally costly modes of production to “emerging economies” in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The benefits of these global production chains are felt in Europe as cheap consumer goods, the social and environmental costs of these global production chains are felt elsewhere? However, even given this diagnosis, there may be examples of solidarity, on the local, national, and maybe even global level. Scholars of social capital debate whether this solidarity is only possible in small in-groups, generated by bonding social capital, or can be transferred to larger societal entities. Nevertheless, notions of solidarity underpin all forms of inequality-reducing policies and discourses. The aim of the IP was therefore to analyze new and old forms of inequality and solidarity in Europe and beyond. That is, inequality might be analyzed within European nation-states, but we particularly welcomed contributions that looked at the interrelation of European and international inequality. We welcomed papers that dealt with questions of inequality and solidarity in all forms, between all kinds of groups, in a materialist as well as culturalist perspective. Thus, inequality may refer to the material bases of inequality – income, terms of trade, access to natural ressources – as well as to socially constructed forms of inequality – unequal access to cultural ressources, or socially created distinctions. Inequality may be analyzed in a comparative perspective between countries, social groups, or subnational units; or in a historical perspective over time. We were also interested in normative discussions about the costs and benefits of inequality and solidarity. Most analyses point to the ambivalent nature of inequality. On the one hand, inequality may serve as a powerful incentive for innovations, improvement of social practices, or products. Inequality may also simply be a by-product of highly complex and stratified societies, with the “right” degree of inequality creating economic and cultural dynamism. On the other hand, structural inequality is seen as harmful for societal cohesion and democratic self-determination, as it creates either apathy, or highly destructive conflicts between social classes, countries, or world regions. Similarly, solidarity can generate collective action and unify societies, but may generate conflicts if solidarity is understood to benefit in-groups at the expense of out-groups. Introduction 7 Within this broad outline, we grouped the papers into three topics: Normative dimensions of inequality and solidarity, material bases of inequality and solidarity, and discursive construction of inequality and solidarity. All contributions to this volume to some extent touch upon all three dimensions, but their main contribution is in one of the three main fields that the volume touches upon, which will be elaborated upon in the following. 1 Normative dimensions of inequality and solidarity The first subtheme concerned normative considerations about inequality and solidarity. At first glance, most normative assessments are that inequality is bad and solidarity is good. However, things may not be so easy.