Social cohesion is more than an absence of racism
In what we call developing countries, I’ve found a deep and abiding community spirit based on the unquestioned support for others. The Zulu name for this in South Africa is ubuntu, unhu in Zimbabwe, Ujamaa in Tanzania and uMunthu in Malawi. It means I am because we are. Then President Bill Clinton summed it up at Nelson Mandela’s memorial to mean ‘we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us’[i]. In Melanesia and Papua New Guinea, it is wontok, or literally ‘one talk’. In the Philippines it is kapwa.
In poverty stricken sub-Saharan West Africa, in tsunami devastated Aceh, in war-torn Bosnia, in earthquake destroyed north Pakistan, or conflict-ravaged Eastern Congo - communities torn apart by poverty, disaster, war and disease - I’ve experienced these communities to be resilient and cohesive. They survive and rebuild because they work together, as they have done for millennia.
When we think about what really matters to us and makes life worth living, it isn’t the things that we acquire in our lives, although they make life easier and more pleasurable (or increasingly don’t provide the life-changing benefits that are advertised as the 2024 word of the year ‘Enshittification’ encapsulates). As herd animals and a social species, it is the benefits we get from relationships that nature and sustain us from families, friends, work, leisure, sports, clubs and community groups.
As Hugh Mackay notes, ‘here’s the beautiful symmetry of the human condition: we need communities and communities need us. We need them to nurture us and preserve our sense of belonging; they need our engagement and participation if they are to survive’[ii].
All these relationships create social cohesion which enables belonging, participation, connectedness, cooperation and belief that we all yearn and need. To take a Canadian definition, it is an ongoing process of developing a community of shared values, shared challenges and equal opportunity, based on a sense of trust, hope and reciprocity[iii].
Social cohesion, in turn, creates social capital, the networks of trust and reciprocity that are now recognised as making an enormous difference in our lives and critical in achieving sustained economic and social development[iv]. It is the glue that holds us all together and makes life meaningful. It’s the sense of common purpose, shared values, and belonging[v].
Social cohesion is an essential condition for democratic security, with divided and unequal societies not only unjust, but also unable to guarantee stability in the long term[vi].
Young Australians understand the importance of social cohesion. A 2025 survey of young Australians reported they see social cohesion as community and social belonging (30 per cent), followed by harmony and cohesiveness (27 per cent), collaboration and cooperation (22 per cent), social interaction (12 per cent) and mutual support and shared values (9 per cent). The shared values that young people raised in consultations were respect for First Nations peoples, multiculturalism, inclusiveness, fairness, equality and equity. When asked about the values our community should aspire to, young people reported community and social cohesion (39 per cent), respect and understanding (33 per cent), fairness and equality (22 per cent), faith and beliefs (16 per cent), and health and wellbeing (13 per cent)[vii].
The building block of social cohesion is social capital, defined by the OECD as ‘networks, norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups’[viii]. Areas with higher levels of social capital have been shown to have improved health, greater wellbeing, better care for children, lower crime and improved governance[ix].
Both bonding (amongst similar people) and bridging (amongst people of different race, area, income) social capital are crucial. Whilst the former is often needed to get a job or to socialise in our groups, it becomes easier to develop misplaced stereotypes of those who are unlike ourselves. The latter, which can be widely found in diverse organisations and groups, fosters tolerance and breaks down the stereotypes that can develop if we mix with only those similar to us[x].
According to the Department of Home Affairs, the key values that underpin our society and social cohesion are summarised in the Australian Values Statement, which visa applicants must sign to ‘acknowledge those Australian values and undertake to conduct yourself in accordance with these values’. They include: equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, or national or ethnic origin; and a 'fair go' for all that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, compassion for those in need, and equality of opportunity for all[xi].
In Measuring What Matters, Australia’s first national wellbeing framework, the Australian government has included ‘cohesive’ as one of the five themes as ‘a society that supports connections with family, friends and the community, values diversity and promotes belonging and culture’[xii].
The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute’s Australian Cohesion Index measures trust in society, belonging and engagement, economics and material wellbeing, and Australia’s health and personal wellbeing.
Trust is a basis for our involvement and engagement in society and our social wellbeing and connectedness, whilst belonging is the sense to which we feel connected to other people, places and collective experiences. To belong is to have a place in the world, to feel a part of the communities and societies around us and is critical to our identity and self-perception. To feel we belong is often regarded as a fundamental human need, rooted in our biology as social beings.
In essence, social cohesion is ‘the peace, harmony, and connectedness of society’ which is ‘most commonly indicated by the degree of trust people have in one another and in government, their sense of belonging and their participation in their communities’.
[i] https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-nelson-mandela-memorial-service-speech-full-text-2013-12?r=AU&IR=T
[ii] Mackay H (2024) The Way We are. Lessons from a lifetime of listening, Allen & Unwin, NSW, p.10
[iii] Social Cohesion Research Workplan, March 1997 at www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/governance/eng/documents/social_cohesion_research_workplan.pdf
[iv] The Benevolent Society, 2008, Bridging the Gap: A literature review of social cohesion
[v] MacKay H, 2010, What Makes Us Tick?: The Ten Desires that Drive Us, Hachette Australia, Sydney
[vi] Council of Europe, 2000, Strategy for Social Cohesion and Quality of Life, at http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/socialpolicies/socialcohesiondev/source/RevisedStrategy_en.pdf
[vii]Johnson A (2025) Redreaming and reimagining Australian communities Social Cohesion and young people 2025, thrive international
[viii] http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/36/6/37966934.pdf
[ix] OCED, 2001, The wellbeing of nations: The role of human and social capital, Organisation for Economic and Social Capital at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/24/51/2671078.pdf
[x] Leigh A, 2010, Disconnected, University of New South Wales Press Ltd, Sydney
[xi] https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/meeting-our-requirements/australian-values
[xii] Commonwealth of Australia (2023) Measuring What Matters. Australia’s First Wellbeing Framework, July 2023
