Superficial and Substantial Practices of Solidarity in Social Sciences

We intervene in debates on ethics and politics in social science, exploring how to foster substantial solidarity in research and knowledge production. Renewed discussions around intersectionality, diversity, and decolonization expose problematic aspects of knowledge production, too often revealing violent and predatory practices. Building on critiques of detached, positivist understandings of knowledge, we emphasize the situated nature of knowledge production, highlighting the structural complicity of social sciences – especially in the Global North – with colonial, patriarchal and capitalist logics. Yet we contend that dominant ways to address this criticism can be compatible and reproduce these logics. Thus, we identify phenomena of superficial solidarity, such as tokenism, and discuss the limits and possibilities of situated knowledge. Practically, we propose substantial solidarity in the context of politically committed research emphasizing ethics of care, comradeship, and coalition-building with marginalized subjects to promote research as a productive and mutually valuable encounter for all participants.