Social Cohesion Legal
One of the first mentions of the term “social cohesion” in Australian politics was in Gough Whitlam`s “It`s Time” speech, which opened the Labor Party`s election campaign in 1972. Although the term has already been used a few times by Australian politicians, this was the first instance where a major political figure used the term in a traditional setting. Klinenberg, E. (2015). Heat wave: Social autopsy of the Chicago disaster. University of Chicago Press. More recently, in his outgoing speech as head of the Australian civil service, Martin Parkinson highlighted his admiration for parliamentarians as “a remarkable commitment to an open economy and social cohesion, despite immense pressure in the other direction”. Social cohesion is a social process aimed at consolidating the plurality of citizenship by reducing socio-economic inequalities and inequalities and ruptures in society. It reflects people`s needs for personal development and sense of belonging, combining individual freedom and social justice, economic efficiency and equitable distribution of resources, pluralism and common rules for resolving all conflicts.
One is the more traditional approach, where social cohesion is the foundation of social harmony. The Australian government supports this through initiatives such as Harmony Day and various funding programmes. In addition, the term is used more generally in the context of public debate by politicians. It has become a common refrain from the Prime Minister to signal his support for building a cohesive society. It is useful for the Institute to examine how different areas of public life will intersect with the social cohesion research agenda. There are important considerations about the role of individuals and state institutions, the emphasis on shared values, and the role of social and civic capital in promoting cohesion. Different research perspectives will provide different evidence for these questions. During the session, UNODC trainers first highlighted some of the challenges posed by the lack of legal awareness among young people, particularly with regard to their rights and access to justice, which can increase the vulnerability of young people to violence and crime. The importance of education and efforts to improve legal literacy was then highlighted as essential to preventing crime and promoting a culture of legality among youth. Ritzen, J., Easterly, W., & Woolcock, M. (2000). On “good” politicians and “bad” policies: social cohesion, institutions and growth.
Stanley, D. (2003). What do we know about social cohesion: the research perspective of the federal government`s Social Cohesion Research Network. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 28(1), 5-18. Gilbert, K. L., Quinn, S. C., Goodman, R. M., Butler, J., & Wallace, J. (2013). A meta-analysis of social capital and health: the case for needed research.
Journal of Health Psychology, 18(11), 1385-1399. Chen-Edinboro, L. P., Kaufmann, C. N., Augustinavicius, J. L., Mojtabai, R., Parisi, J. M., Wennberg, A. M.,. and Spira, A. P. (2015). Neighbourhood physical disorder, social cohesion and insomnia: results from participants over 50 years of age in the Health and Retirement Study.
Internationale Psychogeriatri, 27(2), 289-296. Rudiger, A., & Spencer, S. (2004). Meeting the Challenge: Equality, Diversity and Cohesion in the European Union”, presentation at the Joint European Commission-OECD Conference on the Economic and Social Impacts of Migration in Brussels. Collective effectiveness, an aspect of social capital and social cohesion, is based on mutual trust and describes a community`s ability to effect change and exercise informal social control (i.e. influence behaviour through social norms).14 Collective effectiveness is associated with better self-rated health,15 lower rates of neighbourhood violence,14 and better access to health promotion resources such as medical care, healthy eating, and places to exercise.16 Social institutions such as religion and family are frequent sources of social capital and social control, as well as social networks and social support. 7,17,18 Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support and the buffer hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310.
This summary of the literature on social cohesion as a social determinant of health is a narrowly defined review that is not intended to be exhaustive and may not cover all dimensions of the topic. Note: The terminology used in each abstract is consistent with the respective references. Further information on cross-cutting topics can be found in the literature review on citizen participation. Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2013). Social contagion theory: study of dynamic social networks and human behavior. Statistics in Medicine, 32(4), 556-577.
Social cohesion refers to the degree of connectivity and solidarity between groups in society.