Steunberen van de samenleving: Sociologische essays

What keeps a society together? Common values ​​and norms are usually indicated as the answer to the striking question about the bonding (or social cohesion) of society. However, the author of this new collection of sociological essays is not satisfied with this standard answer. After all, the question must be asked what keeps a society together when common values ​​are no longer present or no longer exist and society threatens to be torn apart by fierce group conflicts and sharp we-they contradictions. In those situations, a society, like a large cathedral, needs a number of buttresses in order not to collapse completely. These buttresses have indeed developed throughout history: a fair trial, religious tolerance, the search for scientific truth and, finally, non-violent conflict resolution. A society desperately needs these historically developed social institutions to deal with many opposing group interests and religious differences without falling into social disorder or destruction. These social institutions provide ‘counterforce’ against too much and too little social bonding. From this perspective, the essays compiled in a well-organized manner have been written and collected here for the first time.