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is also linked to the need for community, this is genuinely

a phenomenon of our times, even in the case of the most

extreme manifestations of fundamentalism. As a result of

the feeling of rootlessness, or rather the failure of insolent

secularism, as Jürgen Habermas calls unconcern about ques-

tions on meaning, the very paradox of globalization is that the

locus of difference is reconstructed, traditions are invented

and communities are imagined. ‘Local’ thus becomes a social

experience of imagination, and imagined communities that

have lost a sense of place invent what is primordial, insofar

as society – by nature a complex structure – has always

involved a specific combination of difference and identity, of

differentiation and of reconstitution of unity.

Social cohesion must be analysed in the light of the values

on which it is built and the coexistence it enables. As it

includes a sense of belonging, the perspective inevitably

homes in on aspects concerning identity.

The more extreme the exclusion engendered by divided

societies, the more they will be a breeding ground for funda-

mentalism of various kinds. Identity can lead to processes of

social polarization, with strong cohesion, solidarity and trust

within groups at the micro level, contrasting, however, with

dissonance regarding society as a whole, leading to conflict

and feelings of remoteness and disaffection. Such dynamics

express social fractures associated with the dialectic between

difference and identity, and a strong sense of belonging at

the micro level can coexist with a situation that is critical in

terms of macro social cohesion; in such cases strong group

cohesion may coexist with destructuring of society as a

whole. A certain amount of current literature has addressed

this phenomenon in terms of social polarization, describing

a country’s population as ‘polarized’ if sizeable groups within

society identify strongly with members of their own group,

but feel alienated from others.

In respect of the link between difference and identity,

ECLAC has stated that diversity should not be a factor of

inequality, and that differences should be respected and

valued in accordance with the rules of democratic coex-

istence. Moreover, in the spirit of Amartya Sen, people’s

individual freedoms and sense of belonging should be based

on their multiple choices, priorities and scopes of action.

In other words, all people should be able to express their

belonging and personal choices through the various social

identities they adopt. This principle contrasts with the ‘illu-

Image: María Elisa Bernal

It is crucial to implement policies to combat discrimination and promote women’s socioeconomic autonomy

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