Pursuing the Common Good: How Solidarity and Subsidiarity Can Work Together

As we observe social phenomena in contemporary societies, we see that the principles of the Catholic social teaching are largely misunderstood. Quite often they are interpreted in ways which are very far from the meaning and intentions proper to the social doctrine. As a matter of fact, reductionist and biased interpretations prevail almost everywhere. For instance: the common good is identified with material goods, like water, a healthy environment, or similar things; solidarity is identified with feelings of love, or philanthropy, or public charity; subsidiarity is defined as leaving decisions to the lower levels of the political system (see art. 3/B of the EU Maastricht Treaty). These misinterpretations lead to serious consequences. The paper shows how sociology can contribute to a correct understanding of the ethical principles of the Catholic social teaching.