Summary "Liquid Modernity", Zygmunt Bauman, Sintesi del corso di Storia Contemporanea

Scarica Summary "Liquid Modernity", Zygmunt Bauman e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Storia Contemporanea solo su Docsity! venerdì 13 gennaio 2017 Liquid Modernity Zygmunt Bauman Work PROGRESS AND TRUST IN HISTORY progress —> self-confidence of the present, capacity of holding and change it Nowadays, this trust is compromised: 1) the absence of an agency able to keep the world forward, the power of stimulate people to work, to act, is taken away from politics and left to the individuals —> loss of a guide 2) it is unclear how an agency should do to improve the shape of the world, since all form of social design has been proved to be bankruptcy Though, progress is not dead, it has been individualized = deregulated (success is unsteady) and privatized (improvement is an individual enterprise). But the individual is shook by universal flexibility and uncertainty, so it cannot control the presence firmly —> feeling of insecurity, powerlessness and unfulfillment (indeterministic order). WORK —> was considered a means for controlling the present and improve the standard of living in a collective effort —> era of SOLID MODERNITY —> now in the labyrinth society(LIQUID MODERNITY), where everything is flexible and changeable, work is more a strategy in a game made of short-reaching gains (fragmented society, no long-term values) NEW AESTHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF WORK : it is gratifying by and in itself (no moral improvement), it is a mean for satisfy the consumer’s desires and needs THE RISE AND FALL OF LABOUR 1776, labour = physical exertion directed to the supply of the material wants of the community 1886, labour = the general body of laborers and operatives —> POLITICAL/SOCIAL ISSUE - bodily and mental toil physical toil as source of wealth - the self constitution of those who work into a class —> + - the politics grounded in that self constitution self assertion of the labour mov. (political value) 1 venerdì 13 gennaio 2017 GREAT TRANSFORMATION led by the industrial revolution in Britain —> separation of laborers from the sources of their livelihood; production is a more general and invisible way of life such that labor became to be seen just as a COMMODITY (DISCONNESSION BETWEEN THE WORKER AND THE PRODUCT) labor = wealth —> initial sense of emancipation and liberation —> but this discovery led to a new form of exploitation, the capitalist exploitation of workers opportunity for a new order —> the newly discovered freedom was to be deployed in the effort to bring about future orderly routine SOLID MODERNITY —> labour as power, industries as monuments , sense of control, certainty and soundness —> mutual dependency workers/ capitalists (selling/buying of labour), with the state (the welfare state) regulating this relationship and guaranteeing justice and control ↓ LONG TERM MENTALITY (SENSE OF SOUNDNESS): - for the workers —> prospect of a lifelong employment in the same company - for the capitalists —> the “family fortune” (the corp of workers) was meant to last beyond the life span of every single life member WORLD WAR II : - strong unions - guarantees of the welfare state —> perpetual conflict, antagonists tied together by mutual dependency - large scale corporations ↓ UNIONS —> sense of protection for individual workers, sense of togetherness, workers could assert their own demands NEW SHORT TERM MENTALITY —> flexibility, working life is saturated with uncertainty given by short term contracts FROM MARRIAGE TO COHABITATION present day uncertainty = POWERFUL INDIVIDUALIZING FORCE ↓ THE IDEA OF COMMON INTEREST GROWS EVEN MORE NEBULOUS AND LOSES ALL PRAGMATIC VALUE NEW FORMS OF EXPLOITATION (DEREGULATION OF WORK, DEVELOPMENT OF TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT)—> unionist action became inadequate (time of weak ties, fleeting forms of association are more useful to people than long term connections) —> new capitalism based on DISENGAGEMENT 2 venerdì 13 gennaio 2017 ABSENCE OF LONG-TERM SECURITY —> NEED OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION (delay of satisfaction seems inconsistent) everything is temporary, one-off use (even human beings) —> every part is spare and replaceable , commitment NEED TO BE SUPERFICIAL, in order to be easily and painlessly replaceable —> precarization in all human aspects, from the social to the private ↓ everything , human bonds included, are supposed to be consumed, not produced , in order to obtain an immediate satisfaction , cause INSTANT GRATIFICATION IS THE SOLE WAY OF STIFLING THE FEELING OF UNCERTAINTY (WITHOUT HOWEVER GIVING CERTAINTY) CONSUMPTION = LONELY ACTIVITY ≉ PRODUCTION = COOPERATION THE SELF PERPETUATION OF NON- CONFIDENCE CAPITALIST SOCIETY —> based on confidence (in oneself, in others, in institutions)—> system of steady values and cultivation of trust LIQUID SOCIETY —> collapse of confidence, workers doesn’t hold the presence and they are in an inferior position —> capital is global, they are insignificant , and the state cannot control this network new society deafened by mass media, advertisers, consumerism —> spectacle and entertainment society ↓ desire for a new good society regulated by justice 5 venerdì 13 gennaio 2017 Community liquid stage of modernity —> unsteady ties and continuos change of relationships and bonds ↓ communities need to survive appealing to the individual choices of its member (community survival = individual responsibility) ↓ COMMUNITARIANISM = need of belonging to something keeping it “invisible” and discreet, though maintaining individual freedom of choice (be part of a society without being effectively part of it) need of security which is taken over by individual freedom —> pursuing personal goals without effectively reaching them cause of the obstacle of communitarianism (if you want to maintain the community you cannot do what you want) ↓ new paradoxical coexistence of INDIVIDUALIZATION and NEED OF SECURITY unemployment unemployment + uncertain old age prospects —> diffuse anxiety about the present, tied with the absence of security + ↓ hazards of urban life appeal of communitarianism as a sort of new hope ↓ utopian desire of a global community supplying everything one may need to lead a meaningful life NATIONALISM, MARK 2 communitarian community —> either an ethnic community or a community imagined after the pattern of an ethnic one (SOLID MODERNITY), why? 1) ethnicity present the cultural as a fact of nature —> secure, stable and blood-bounded sense of belonging 2) the nation state promoting ethnical unity is the only successful way to create a steady community the state in this way eliminates internal communities fragmentation and became more powerful (through unified language, unified education system and unified system of law) ↓ 6 venerdì 13 gennaio 2017 Even though in theory they’re radically different, in practice each of the two strategies may be wrapped in either of the two rhetorics UNITY - THROUGH SIMILARITY OR DIFFERENCE ? we = like us ≉ they = different from us (not in everything but in certain fundamental key points) nationalism —> locks the doors, only “we” have the right to be settled here for goof patriotism —> passes the buck to those who ask admission ↓ neither patriotism nor nationalism admits the possibility of people belonging together ≉ REPUBLICAN MODEL OF UNITY —> ACHIEVED COMMUNITY (NOT AN A PRIORI CONDITION, AS NATIONALISM )BORN FROM CONFRONTATION, DEBATE A COMPROMISE BETWEEN VALUES AND WAY OF SELF-IDENTIFICATION LIQUID MODERNITY ONLY POSSIBLE KIND OF UNITY ↓ however, the new volatility of identities make the principle of combination based on individuals and not on universalistic institutions ↓ new use of “we” as a defensive strategies towards strangers, and thus towards confusion and dislocation (uniformity as a shelter and based on resemblance between individuals) ↓ sort of PURIFICATION RITUAL and search for those who look similar to us —> you can avoid to look deeper into people, basing just on appearance ; dream of purity relegated to the private sphere(local, group) initiative dream of community based on SIMILARITY, thus the desire to make what is outside similar or identical to what is inside (homologation process) —> desire of safety based on the senses of uncertainty, unsafely, insecurity patriotism nationalism sense of belonging and inclusion sense of difference and exclusion of those who are different benevolent tolerance of cultural variety asserting the tribal existence through aggression it’s an invitation, a choice belonging is a matter of fate, not a chosen destiny or a life project ; you can only choose if accept you biological heredity or oppose to it, resulting a traitor anthropophagic tendency, involvement of the stranger anthropoemic tendency, exclusion and isolation, or even violence and rude exploitation of those who are “unfit to be us” 7