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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<strong>in</strong> debunk<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> ‘natural’, ‘<strong>in</strong>evitable’ and ‘common sense’ as a utopian strat-<br />
egy that <strong>Bauman</strong> described <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g fashion:<br />
We ought to come as close as <strong>the</strong> true poets do to <strong>the</strong> yet hidden human possibili-<br />
ties; and for that reason we need to pierce <strong>the</strong> walls <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> obvious and self-<br />
evident, <strong>of</strong> that prevail<strong>in</strong>g ideological fashion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> day whose commonality is<br />
taken for <strong>the</strong> pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> its sense. Demolish<strong>in</strong>g such walls is as much <strong>the</strong> sociolo-<br />
gist’s as <strong>the</strong> poet’s call<strong>in</strong>g, and for <strong>the</strong> same reason: <strong>the</strong> wall<strong>in</strong>g-up <strong>of</strong> possibilities<br />
belies human potential while obstruct<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> disclosure <strong>of</strong> its bluff (<strong>Bauman</strong><br />
2000b:79-80).<br />
Literary thought is full <strong>of</strong> examples <strong>of</strong> dystopias and anti-utopias which, con-<br />
trary to utopias, do not conta<strong>in</strong> promises <strong>of</strong> creat<strong>in</strong>g a better world. Just th<strong>in</strong>k <strong>of</strong><br />
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or George Orwell’s 1984 as <strong>the</strong> primary<br />
examples <strong>of</strong> this k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> sombre and s<strong>in</strong>ister premonitions <strong>of</strong> a future state <strong>of</strong><br />
affairs where dehumanisation and degradation characterises <strong>the</strong> daily life <strong>of</strong><br />
human be<strong>in</strong>gs. Both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se classical literary dystopias conta<strong>in</strong> visions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
future that are appall<strong>in</strong>g, where heteronomy crushes autonomy, where dehu-<br />
manisation prevails and is presented as a distorted picture <strong>of</strong> humanism, where<br />
self-limitation is supplanted by suppression and surveillance.<br />
As a consequence, reality <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> work <strong>of</strong> <strong>Bauman</strong> is <strong>of</strong>ten seen as <strong>the</strong><br />
dystopia <strong>of</strong> utopias and as Krishan Kumar with typical eloquence observed:<br />
“As nightmare to its dream, like a malevolent and grimac<strong>in</strong>g doppelgänger,<br />
anti-utopia has stalked utopia from <strong>the</strong> very beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g. They have been locked<br />
toge<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> a contrapuntal embrace, a circl<strong>in</strong>g dance, that has checked <strong>the</strong> es-<br />
cape for ei<strong>the</strong>r for a very long time” (Kumar 1987:99). This is also <strong>the</strong> case <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Bauman</strong>’s writ<strong>in</strong>gs where dystopia, sometimes <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> guise <strong>of</strong> someone’s exclu-<br />
sive or special utopia, is always lurk<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> background presented as some-<br />
th<strong>in</strong>g to be transcended. His work is thus nei<strong>the</strong>r only ever exclusively utopian<br />
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