Utopianism in the Work of Zygmunt Bauman - Sociologi - Aalborg ...
Utopianism in the Work of Zygmunt Bauman - Sociologi - Aalborg ...
Utopianism in the Work of Zygmunt Bauman - Sociologi - Aalborg ...
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where duties and obligations go hand <strong>in</strong> hand with rights and <strong>the</strong> fair distribu-<br />
tion <strong>of</strong> material wealth. <strong>Bauman</strong>, though, is <strong>in</strong> no way whatsoever an advocate<br />
for <strong>the</strong> aristocratic underp<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ancient republican practice - exclud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
women, slaves and <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dolent from participation - but nor is he opt<strong>in</strong>g for<br />
planned economy understood <strong>in</strong> its communist guise, although <strong>the</strong> welfare<br />
state’s redistribution <strong>of</strong> wealth <strong>in</strong> his view is a prerequisite for a truly democ-<br />
ratic society. He is ra<strong>the</strong>r concerned with <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> self-constituted<br />
society where autonomous citizens actively engage <strong>in</strong> public and political life<br />
<strong>in</strong>stead <strong>of</strong> retreat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong>ir private fortresses constructed out <strong>of</strong> fear like <strong>the</strong><br />
moth, as Marx noted, which as <strong>the</strong> universal sun starts sett<strong>in</strong>g seeks out <strong>the</strong><br />
comfort and warmth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> domestic lamp.<br />
However, <strong>in</strong> his earlier years, before arriv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> UK <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> early<br />
1970’s, <strong>Bauman</strong>’s vision <strong>of</strong> utopia was markedly different than it is today ac-<br />
cord<strong>in</strong>g to his friend and colleague Stefan Morawski who claimed that he at<br />
that time embraced a “Marxist worldview <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> light <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> utopian belief and<br />
hope that <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union was genu<strong>in</strong>ely a country <strong>of</strong> justice, equality, free-<br />
dom; that an ethnic pedigree really did not matter” (Morawski 1998:30). Em-<br />
bittered by <strong>the</strong> experience <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Stal<strong>in</strong>ist and anti-Semitic purges <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Polish<br />
academia first <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> middle <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1950’s and later throughout <strong>the</strong> late 1960’s,<br />
<strong>the</strong> belief <strong>in</strong> such a communist utopia was upon arrival <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> UK ultimately<br />
disowned. Despite hav<strong>in</strong>g dissolved his relatively orthodox roots to Marxist<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g many years ago, <strong>the</strong>re is as mentioned little doubt that his early tra<strong>in</strong>-<br />
<strong>in</strong>g with<strong>in</strong> this tradition has directed his attention to aspects fertile for utopian<br />
<strong>the</strong>oris<strong>in</strong>g. The utopian ve<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> his writ<strong>in</strong>gs from <strong>the</strong> early years onwards can be<br />
seen <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> two major tenets <strong>in</strong> his th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g, he claims, are respec-<br />
tively suffer<strong>in</strong>g and culture (<strong>Bauman</strong> <strong>in</strong> Kilm<strong>in</strong>ster & Varcoe 1992). Utopia is<br />
central to both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se aspects – utopia as relief from suffer<strong>in</strong>g and as <strong>the</strong> reali-<br />
sation <strong>of</strong> culture as a human and actively created doma<strong>in</strong>. As <strong>Bauman</strong> is well<br />
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