Conclusion: The Public Performance of Civil Righteousness

Abstract

How can civil sphere theory conceptualize responses to international migration? The primordial contradictions of universalizing solidarity mean that “real civil societies” resist incorporating individuals and groups outside their core groups, whether they are religious, ethnic, regional, racial, and economic groups inside a national territory or immigrants seeking to enter from outside it. To the degree that the primordial qualities of such outgroups contrast with those of core groups, to that degree the resistance to incorporation stiffens, and the possibility of legitimating international migrants through “normal” legal and socio-cultural channels declines. Yet, even when a nation-state’s people and elites sharply reject such migrants, civil spheres supply resources to sustain righteous minority action that may demand more humane and civil treatment. Such acts of righteous indignation can become influential social performances if broadcast by the communicative institutions of civil spheres. Widespread viewing of isolated righteous actions may broaden social empathy with international migrants and pry open restricted civil spheres.