About the empirical study of solidarity: conceptual and methodological approaches

Abstract

Solidarity, understood as a social and communicative operation destined to maintain people’s cohesion in the context of modern society, evidences the permanence of a stratified social order that produces exclusion from certain social rights. This article attempts to further discuss this definition by offering an empirical and multidimensional analysis of solidarity conducts in Chile. Through an univariate analysis and MANOVA analysis of data from the “Survey of solidarity 2010” (N = 1389) generated by the measurement center MIDE UC of the Pontifical Catholic University, we conclude that there are certain variables of social stratification that currently predict and address the solidarity´s orientations in Chile. This suggests that the need for solidarity not only responds to a stratified outlining of modern society, but also that different axes of stratification influence the social dimensions of solidarity.