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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clusive and potentially universal community <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> mank<strong>in</strong>d s<strong>in</strong>ce we, as also<br />
Kant po<strong>in</strong>ted out, are dest<strong>in</strong>ed to share <strong>the</strong> same globe whe<strong>the</strong>r we like it or not.<br />
However, <strong>Bauman</strong> believes that this conception <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> common good and <strong>the</strong><br />
moral community is <strong>in</strong> danger <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g lost <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> contemporary globalised<br />
world where ‘society’, due to <strong>in</strong>dividualis<strong>in</strong>g and globalis<strong>in</strong>g pressures from<br />
with<strong>in</strong> and without, is tak<strong>in</strong>g on an ever more menac<strong>in</strong>g appearance. He thus<br />
writes that it is “no wonder ei<strong>the</strong>r that <strong>the</strong> ‘good society’ is a notion most <strong>of</strong> us<br />
would not bo<strong>the</strong>r th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g about, and that many would th<strong>in</strong>k such th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g to be<br />
a waste <strong>of</strong> time” (<strong>Bauman</strong> 2001:111). Utopia is, as we saw above, no longer a<br />
state, understood as a territorially delimited area, as it was when Thomas More<br />
used <strong>the</strong> term some centuries ago because, as <strong>Bauman</strong> (2002a) suggests, it has<br />
now lost its firm anchor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> physical space and has become ‘phantasmagoric’.<br />
It has become imag<strong>in</strong>ary and amounts to noth<strong>in</strong>g more than a mental image <strong>of</strong> a<br />
better place. Dur<strong>in</strong>g times when every politician, every scientist and every bu-<br />
reaucrat are tell<strong>in</strong>g us that ‘<strong>the</strong>re is no alternative’, utopia appears to be lost at<br />
least for a while if by utopia we mean alternative <strong>in</strong>terpretations <strong>of</strong> reality. In a<br />
world where every spot on <strong>the</strong> map, every region, exotic country or deserted<br />
island <strong>in</strong> globalitarian fashion has been discovered and rediscovered, <strong>the</strong> world<br />
has lost much <strong>of</strong> its erstwhile magic, has become overcrowded and disen-<br />
chanted at <strong>the</strong> same time as <strong>the</strong> people <strong>in</strong>habit<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> world has become self-<br />
sufficient and atomised.<br />
What straws can we clutch at <strong>in</strong> such a world? Can an apparently utopian<br />
morality <strong>of</strong> proximity be ‘stretched’ to <strong>the</strong> limit and span <strong>the</strong> global order?<br />
<strong>Bauman</strong> gives a few h<strong>in</strong>ts although <strong>the</strong>y always seem to stop short <strong>of</strong> expla<strong>in</strong>-<br />
<strong>in</strong>g how dyadic morality can be made to measure <strong>the</strong> political actions necessary<br />
to change <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world. <strong>Bauman</strong>’s utopia is more about ability and<br />
possibility than desirability when <strong>in</strong>sist<strong>in</strong>g that th<strong>in</strong>gs can be different and <strong>in</strong>-<br />
stead <strong>of</strong> spell<strong>in</strong>g out exactly this difference should look like. He is very cau-<br />
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