Social Cohesion in the Western World: What Holds Societies Together: Insights from the Social Cohesion Radar

Abstract

Foreword: Measuring Common Ground: Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Social Cohesion Radar: What holds society together? What is the proverbial glue that transforms diversity into a coherent unit in the twenty-first century? This issue is being discussed almost all over the world, in one form or another. As a result, the concept of “social cohesion” has taken on an increasingly important role in recent years. Today it is a central political and social challenge—from the local to the national, and even the international level. In 1977 Reinhard Mohn founded Bertelsmann Stiftung with the aim to encourage people to campaign for their causes and to promote a society that presents fair opportunities for all. It is therefore not surprising that social cohesion has been a major issue for Bertelsmann Stiftung for years. In a series of publications addressing issues of social interaction, Bertelsmann Stiftung directed its focus at the end of the 1990s to the subject of cohesion. Besides various smaller publications (Weidenfeld & Rumberg 1994; Berger & Luckmann 1995; Dettling 1995), two collective volumes particularly stand out. Limits of Social Cohesion, edited by Peter L. Berger, was published in 1999/1998 as a report to the Club of Rome. Two years later it was followed by Democracies in Flux, edited by Robert D. Putnam. This volume examined changes in social capital in eight countries: Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The modern world is characterized by a growing sense of insecurity and unrest, wrote then-president of the Club of Rome, Ricardo Diez-Hochleitner (1999), in the preface to Limits of Social Cohesion. In the introduction to the same book, Volker Then posed a central question that is just as relevant today as it was then—namely, how to handle the conflicts that become more and more inevitable as a result of increasing pluralism and the erosion of common value systems in quickly changing societies. He explicitly rejected the notion that the solution might lie in the restoration of a past homogeneity of values. In heterogeneous societies, a normative consensus can be reached only at the cost of liberty. And yet, complete relativism and laissez-faire policies are also unrealistic approaches. Instead, it is important to find an arrangement that accepts diversity and at the same time establishes cohesion (Then 1999). The tension between homogeneity and conformity on the one hand, and heterogeneity and individuality on the other, is still a decisive factor in today’s social reality. Neither extreme can ensure cohesion in the future. Social interaction will rather oscillate between these two poles. How much does a society need to have in common in order to exist as a social unit, without placing too many restrictions on diversity? For a long time, religion was considered an integral institution and the ultimate source of a society’s foundation of values. Consequently, at the start of the twenty-first century, Bertelsmann Stiftung first turned its focus toward the role of religion in social interaction. The first Religion Monitor, a quantitative survey on faith and religious beliefs in 21 countries, was published in 2008 (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2008). Today, with its Social Cohesion Radar and Religion Monitor, Bertelsmann Stiftung is equipped with two empirical instruments for studying social interaction. Since the second wave of the Religion Monitor (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2013), the topic of social cohesion has been explicitly added to the report’s agenda. It surveyed 13 countries (Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and examined whether religion or religiosity constitutes more of a connecting or a separating element in societies (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2012). The results were mixed. On the one hand, the study pointed to a disconcertingly high level of negativity among the surveyed populations (with the exception of Turkey) toward Islam. Islam was viewed as threatening and not belonging to the West. On the other hand, the Religion Monitor showed that many virtual bridges exist between the various faiths, so it would be inaccurate to speak of a religious division in the societies. On the basis of data from the Religion Monitor, Richard Traunmüller (2015) examined the network of relationships between religions. He concluded that fears of a negative impact on social cohesion due to a growing religious diversity were ungrounded. And yet, the dividing lines between religions and their adherents can lead to conflicts that place an ongoing strain on social cohesion. The caricature controversy of 2005 and 2006 already brought this to the general public’s attention. That is why the relationship between religions and other communities of shared values will remain a central issue for Bertelsmann Stiftung, which it will continue to track with the help of the Religion Monitor. Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Social Cohesion Radar is a further tool for examining social transformation processes and their impact on the social fabric of societies. It expands the viewer’s perspective beyond the role of religion, to the connections and developments affecting society as a whole. This book presents the concept behind the tool and the results of the initial studies. It is for good reason that this instrument is called Social Cohesion Radar. A radar allows us to see things that are invisible to the naked eye. The Social Cohesion Radar provides a view of the current state of social cohesion and shows how it is changing; ideally, offering thereby the possibility to identify threats to cohesion at an early stage. In the context of public discourse, social cohesion would typically be only mentioned when actors complain of a lack of cohesion. In this sense, it is generally used to describe a crisis. There is additional concern that social cohesion will be negatively affected by major social challenges—be it demographic change, financial and economic crises, increasing migration, stronger international competition, greater mobility, or value change. A growing number of people believe that advanced modernization may contribute to the gradual loss of society’s sense of solidarity, commitment, and interaction. That is why some wish for a return to the past, when social interaction was considered more personable, more stable, more sincere, or more moral. There is no question that modern societies have, in fact, changed. However, it is generally uncertain whether increased immigration, changes in the workplace, individualized lifestyles, major social disparity, or other related changes have actually led to a weakening of social cohesion. And yet, various examples can be found for this line of argumentation.