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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vides a map <strong>of</strong> quite different possibilities for speculat<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> human condi-<br />
tion” (Kumar 1990:19). As a matter merely <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g it opens up different<br />
and <strong>of</strong>ten conflict<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terpretations and understand<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> what is to be<br />
achieved and what is to be avoided. As a matter <strong>of</strong> action it tends to narrow<br />
down <strong>the</strong>se understand<strong>in</strong>gs to myopic or <strong>in</strong>significant choices and to specify<br />
exactly what must be done and perhaps more importantly what is to be re-<br />
fra<strong>in</strong>ed from be<strong>in</strong>g done. This <strong>in</strong> turn <strong>of</strong>ten leads to totalitarianism and heteron-<br />
omy, as <strong>Bauman</strong> po<strong>in</strong>ts out. However, we cannot allow utopianism to be split,<br />
as so many o<strong>the</strong>r phenomena, <strong>in</strong>to thought on <strong>the</strong> one hand and action on <strong>the</strong><br />
o<strong>the</strong>r. This tendency boils down to sever<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> l<strong>in</strong>k between means and ends,<br />
to cut <strong>the</strong> causal l<strong>in</strong>k between what we want and how we want to and may<br />
achieve it. By cutt<strong>in</strong>g this l<strong>in</strong>k we exclude and even emasculate politics and<br />
collective action. Thus, <strong>in</strong> <strong>Bauman</strong>’s sociology, <strong>the</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g and act<strong>in</strong>g are <strong>in</strong>-<br />
stead comb<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>to people possess<strong>in</strong>g what Giddens (1984) termed a ‘trans-<br />
formative capacity’, which means <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> open<strong>in</strong>g up for possibilities to<br />
change th<strong>in</strong>gs. 11 Utopia has to be practised, not just imag<strong>in</strong>ed or contemplated –<br />
as <strong>Bauman</strong> hammers home time after time, we need to comb<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> vita con-<br />
templative with <strong>the</strong> vita active if utopia is to stand a chance and if th<strong>in</strong>gs will be<br />
changed to <strong>the</strong> better. As Kumar ends his exposé on utopian thought:<br />
Utopia confronts reality not with a measured assessment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> possibilities <strong>of</strong><br />
change but with <strong>the</strong> demand for change. This is <strong>the</strong> way <strong>the</strong> world should be. It re-<br />
fuses to accept current def<strong>in</strong>itions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> possible because it knows <strong>the</strong>se to be<br />
part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> reality that it seeks to change. In its guise as utopia, by <strong>the</strong> very force<br />
<strong>of</strong> its imag<strong>in</strong>ative presentation, it energizes reality, <strong>in</strong>fus<strong>in</strong>g it […] with ‘<strong>the</strong><br />
power <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> new’ (Kumar 1990:107).<br />
Despite not explicitly mention<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> work <strong>of</strong> <strong>Bauman</strong>, this description <strong>of</strong> ‘<strong>the</strong><br />
power <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> new’ embedded with<strong>in</strong> utopian thought is a very exact replication<br />
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