Citizenship Consciousness, Nonbounded Solidarity, and Social Justice

Abstract

This article analyzes the concepts of bounded and nonbounded solidarity. It first reviews some fundamental propositions from the sociological literature and then looks at Amnesty International's conception of solidarity. A third part discusses solidarity as it applies to social work with groups. The conclusion raises five questions social workers need to address to make social justice a standard part of social group work theory and practice.

Keywords:

• bounded solidarity
• nonbounded solidarity
• citizenship
• mutual aid
• social justice
• social group work
• social work with groups
• Amnesty International

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A version of this article was presented at the 32nd International Symposium on Social Work with Groups, Montreal, June 3–6, 2010. The author wishes to thank Elena Dumitru and Grace Wu of Amnesty International Canada, and Raymond Breton of the University of Toronto for their assistance with this article.