Solidarity is a concept pursued equally in theoretical and practical contexts. In contemporary South Korea, it has gained attention as a counter concept against oppressive exercises of power and structural discrimination. However, solidarity has tende...
Solidarity is a concept pursued equally in theoretical and practical contexts. In contemporary South Korea, it has gained attention as a counter concept against oppressive exercises of power and structural discrimination. However, solidarity has tended to remain at the level of declarative rhetoric or abstraction without concrete pathways for realization, and has recently begun to be misused as a means of mobilizing and rallying citizens who merely align with specific interests. This study seeks to correct such misconceptions and reexamine solidarity as both a substantive driving force and normative orientation of modern politics. The inquiry begins by tracing the diachronic development of solidarity and conducting a comparative analysis of adjacent notions. Through this, solidarity is revealed as a concept that presupposes mutual aid, motivates both the maintenance and transformation of society, is grounded in social responsibility, and aims for a bond among specific agents. Such premises enable the classification of solidarity theories into convergence-oriented approaches that focus on cohesion and divergence-oriented approaches that emphasize inclusiveness. Yet both approaches reveal limitations stemming from their one-sided focus on particular aspects of solidarity. Accordingly, this study turns to Jürgen Habermas, whose political philosophy has persistently pursued the integration of cohesion and inclusion. But research on solidarity within Habermasian philosophy remains scarce, and the few existing studies tend to be confined to moral philosophy or shaped by biased perspectives. Consequently, solidarity has been limited in its potential as a political philosophical concept and has frequently been reduced to an emotional notion. In response, this study reconstructs solidarity as a concept that traverses both moral and political philosophy. Based on the theory of the democratic constitutional state, Habermasian solidarity is redefined as inclusive cohesion grounded in intersubjectivity, functioning as a force for social integration. It operates throughout the flows of communicative power, aiming toward integration, and serves as a normative basis for constitutional patriotism thus enabling the coexistence of cohesion and inclusion within a unified framework of integrative solidarity. However, macro level theorization alone is insufficient to confirm its practical function. This issue is closely tied to the crisis of contemporary democracy and the longstanding critique that Habermas’s model marginalizes civic agency. Today’s democracy faces challenges posed by new media environments, conspiracy theories, polarized partisanship, and regionalism, which call for renewed theoretical resources. Meanwhile, the problem of civic marginalization highlights the absence of substantial mechanisms for citizen participation in Habermas’s model of the democratic constitutional state. In response, this study presents three practical dimensions of Habermasian solidarity as pathways to address the crisis of democracy and to enhance civic participation: the activation of informal public spheres through associative engagement, the expansion of understanding through institutional translation, and the realization of constitutional patriotism through civil disobedience. Through these dimensions, Habermasian solidarity is reinterpreted as a dynamic concept capable of confronting democratic crises. Finally, this study seeks to establish solidary citizenship as a normative model for sustainable democracy and to explore its implications for civic education. It critically examines the theoretical gaps concerning citizenship and civic education within Habermas’s democratic theory and proposes solidary citizenship, grounded in Habermasian solidarity, as a complementary concept. Solidary citizenship reconstructs all processes of communicative action into a citizen’s practical orientation, thereby overcoming the limitations of existing discussions of Habermasian citizenship. Furthermore, solidary citizenship expands into a model capable of integratively mediating the conflict between thin conceptions of citizenship focused on legal status and rights and thick conceptions that emphasize communal responsibility and civic virtue. In this way, expanded solidary citizenship offers a practical foundation through which civic education can contribute to the continuous realization of democracy. This study thus aspires for solidarity to be recognized not merely as a slogan or declaration but as a constitutive force that sustains social integration. Moreover, it anticipates that democratic theory may serve not simply as a tool to secure legitimacy for systems, but as an avenue through which citizens can re-recognize themselves as political subjects. It calls upon citizens to resist the temptations of polarization and the threats of populist agitation, and to critically reflect on the solidaristic relations within which they are situated. Although the solidarity of a democratic constitutional state may appear to be mediated solely through institutions such as constitutions and laws, this study emphasizes that the lived, collaborative practices conducted by individual citizens within their everyday contexts ultimately ground social integration. By providing a theoretical foundation that sustains such practices, Habermasian solidarity seeks, however modestly, to contribute to efforts aimed at overcoming the crisis of democracy.