The experiences of the LABOR.A conference in Berlin in 2025 show that an intersectional perspective on social justice, one that includes fair participation of marginalized groups, the reduction of discrimination, inclusive education, migration- and gender-equitable policies, and effective participation in decision-making processes, can be productive in stimulating meaningful change. Social justice does not become sustainably attainable merely through the formal recognition of rights, but through concrete structural changes in institutions, regulatory frameworks, and everyday practices.
The initial findings of the SoFRiED research project from Austria and Germany were presented at the conference by Christoph Omann, Eric Mülling, and Júlia Wéber and discussed with an interested audience in the context of a workshop.
Questions of access and distributive fairness are of particular relevance for social work practice when dealing with far-right actors: when people are intentionally, strategically, and systematically excluded from the group of so-called eligible beneficiaries on the basis of (ascribed) characteristics, this constitutes the phenomenon of exclusive solidarity. Exclusive solidarity refers to forms of cohesion and support that include only certain groups or identities while deliberately excluding and rejecting others.
Forms of exclusive solidarity appear frequently in the empirical material of the SoFRiED project in Germany. For example, when young people who were not born and/or raised in Germany are unable to participate in a sports or cultural program that is, in principle, advertised as open to all; or when certain individuals or groups receive counseling services whose quality and scope is deliberately restricted for specific users, practices of exclusive solidarity are being reinforced and exclusions are produced.
The project team would like to thank all workshop participants for their feedback on issues of social justice and equity in their social work practice and within the broader social services sector as part of the SoFRiED workshop at the LABOR.A conference.
Organizer: Hans Böckler Foundation