IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v30y2025i4p1085-1097.html

Contingencies of Solidarity: Comparing Twitter\X Discourses in Italy and Germany during the COVID-19 Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Rocco Paolillo

    (University of Bremen, Germany; Constructor University, Germany)

  • Till Hilmar

    (University of Vienna, Austria)

  • Patrick Sachweh

    (University of Bremen, Germany)

Abstract

The article examines different articulations of solidarity discourse in Germany and in Italy during the COVID-19 crisis, demonstrating how its meanings varied between the two countries in conjunction with national contingencies influencing how the crisis was experienced. Text analysis with Twitter\X data is used to compare how the term was framed during the crisis. The two countries were selected based on their differing socio-economic, cultural, and institutional conditions before the pandemic and varying consequences, with Germany’s stronger welfare regime performing relatively better. Results show how solidarity is framed differently in both countries, with a commitment to public health and civic engagement in Germany and to social solidarity and local practices of assistance in Italy. The contribution underlines the value of reconstructing the varying meanings of solidarity under different societal conditions to understand its role as a catalyst for social resilience.

Suggested Citation

  • Rocco Paolillo & Till Hilmar & Patrick Sachweh, 2025. "Contingencies of Solidarity: Comparing Twitter\X Discourses in Italy and Germany during the COVID-19 Crisis," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 30(4), pages 1085-1097, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:4:p:1085-1097
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804241306383
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804241306383
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13607804241306383?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:4:p:1085-1097. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.