Social cohesion: Definition, measurement and developments

At the World summit for social development in Copenhagen in 1995 the member states committed themselves to “creating an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that will enable people to achieve social development” (Commitment 1). This overall commitment was followed by nine additional commitments, which to a large extent can be seen as means to achieve social development; one of them was the commitment to facilitate social integration (commitment 4). In the two decades that followed, the world did indeed experience social development. Especially, the rapid economic growth in China has lifted a large proportion of the world population out of severe poverty. And so has the economic development in India, Indonesia and other emerging countries (UNDP 2014). However, the same process has pushed the issue of social integration to the forefront. Terms such as “inclusive economic growth” and “social inclusion” have in many countries reached the top of the political agenda, e.g. in China were Prime Minister Hu Jintao in 2004 launched the concept of a “harmonious society”. The idea was to create a “better balance” than had been the case in the social development that China had experienced so far. In the last two decades, most of the rich Western countries have also experienced a rapid increase in economic inequality (OECD 2011). These economic developments have pushed the issue of “social integration” or “social cohesion” up the political agenda; but so has the general economic and cultural globalization, the flow of migrants across nation borders and the security concerns after 9/11.