(Non)belonging and (un)freedom

Abstract

This article centers on the concept of “belonging” to argue that belonging and freedom are fundamentally related, and that this relationship cannot be easily captured in formal terms alone. I contend that experiences of incomplete belonging among citizens deserve attention from political science because, in addition to their more obvious challenge to equality, they also erode freedom, even in the context of robust formal guarantees. Citizens perceived as not fully belonging are more likely to eschew behaviors or opinions they know can exacerbate the likelihood of being perceived as interlopers. But although this challenge to individual freedom may be by itself worrisome, I focus on the ways in which some citizens’ unequal belonging undermines collective freedom—what Hannah Arendt calls political freedom—by confining some people's sincere expressions to narrow public spaces, limiting pluralism, and depleting the public space of opportunities for deliberation and political action.