Recognition and Social Worth: Community and Meaningful Work

This final chapter focusses on the possibly most critical part of our diagnosis of susceptibilities: grievances that emerge from individuals’ struggle to fulfil their basic human ‘need for personal significance—the desire to matter, to “be someone,” and to have meaning in one’s life’ (Kruglanski et al., 2018: 107). Finding ways to effectively counter the appeal of far-right movements needs to acknowledge that these susceptibilities are not limited to small ‘vulnerable’ segments of society. Everyone has a desire for meaning, purpose, respect and social connectedness—and a fair, cohesive and politically healthy society is characterised by its capacity to provide ample opportunities for its citizens to fulfil this desire. The key question in the specific context of this book is: what can be concretely done to ensure that everyone can meet these basic human needs within the democratic realm of society rather than going on a quest in exclusivist and anti-democratic anti-publics of far-right communities?