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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lurry, encompass<strong>in</strong>g and treacherous to allow for generalisations about <strong>the</strong> actual state <strong>of</strong><br />
American sociological work (cf. <strong>Bauman</strong> & Tester 2001:28-29).<br />
13 <strong>Bauman</strong> from his critical postmodernist perspective, just as Jacoby (1999) from his critical<br />
<strong>the</strong>oretical perspective, is worried about <strong>the</strong> apparent lack <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> substantial issues <strong>in</strong><br />
contemporary society where superficial or shallow agendas advanced under such head<strong>in</strong>gs as<br />
communitarianism, multiculturalism, fem<strong>in</strong>ism and environmentalism appear to reject <strong>the</strong><br />
universal aspect <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir bitter struggles aga<strong>in</strong>st o<strong>the</strong>r utopian visions. Exclusion, as a consequence,<br />
takes precedence over <strong>in</strong>clusion. Universalism and <strong>in</strong>clusion are <strong>in</strong>herent <strong>in</strong>, <strong>in</strong>deed<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegral to, <strong>Bauman</strong>’s own plea for more visionary utopian ideas <strong>of</strong> a better world.<br />
14 <strong>Bauman</strong>’s sociological vision <strong>of</strong> contemporary society has <strong>of</strong>ten been described as explicitly<br />
pessimistic and s<strong>in</strong>ister. There is some truth <strong>in</strong> such a characterisation but it also misses<br />
out on <strong>the</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t that he never entirely gives <strong>in</strong> to this passive pessimism and s<strong>in</strong>ister defeatism.<br />
<strong>Bauman</strong>’s s<strong>in</strong>ister yet hopeful vision <strong>of</strong> a world devoid <strong>of</strong> utopias echoes that expressed<br />
by Mannheim when he stated <strong>the</strong> sombre premonitions <strong>of</strong> a reality entirely deprived <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
utopian spirit: “The complete disappearance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> utopian element from human thought and<br />
action would mean that human nature and human development would take on a totally new<br />
character. The disappearance <strong>of</strong> utopia br<strong>in</strong>gs about a static state <strong>of</strong> affairs <strong>in</strong> which man<br />
himself becomes noth<strong>in</strong>g more than a th<strong>in</strong>g […] Thus, after a long tortuous, but heroic development,<br />
just at <strong>the</strong> highest stage <strong>of</strong> awareness, when history is ceas<strong>in</strong>g to be bl<strong>in</strong>d fate,<br />
and is becom<strong>in</strong>g more and more man’s own creation, with <strong>the</strong> rel<strong>in</strong>quishment <strong>of</strong> utopias, man<br />
would lose his will to shape history and <strong>the</strong>rewith his ability to understand it” (Mannheim<br />
1936/1976:236). This, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most central <strong>of</strong> quotations and observations on utopia, also<br />
embellishes <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most comprehensive and monumental del<strong>in</strong>eation <strong>of</strong> and <strong>in</strong>troduction<br />
to utopian and anti-utopian thought (cf. Kumar 1987).<br />
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