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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stood for ‘all situationally transcendent ideas […] which <strong>in</strong> any way have a<br />
transform<strong>in</strong>g effect upon <strong>the</strong> exist<strong>in</strong>g historical-social order’ (Mannheim<br />
1936/1976). 2 The two key words here are, obviously, ‘effect’ and ‘exist<strong>in</strong>g’.<br />
Utopian th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g attempts to alter and substitute <strong>the</strong> exist<strong>in</strong>g understand<strong>in</strong>g or<br />
design<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> reality, as well as hav<strong>in</strong>g an impact and effect on <strong>the</strong> way th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
are or ought to be run or drift<strong>in</strong>g towards <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future. Transcendence and<br />
transformation are thus also key terms to be reckoned with when seek<strong>in</strong>g an<br />
understand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> utopian thought – ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> transcendence or <strong>the</strong> transforma-<br />
tion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> present <strong>in</strong>to someth<strong>in</strong>g qualitatively better and <strong>of</strong>ten also quantita-<br />
tively better.<br />
Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> attempts at <strong>the</strong>oris<strong>in</strong>g or visualis<strong>in</strong>g utopia have aimed at mak-<br />
<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> elusive and tantalis<strong>in</strong>g tangible and present<strong>in</strong>g a manifestation <strong>of</strong> ideal<br />
states and ideological imag<strong>in</strong>ations. Jeffrey C. Alexander recently <strong>of</strong>fered <strong>the</strong><br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g formal sociological def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>of</strong> utopia by stat<strong>in</strong>g that “utopia refers<br />
to a normatively desirable model <strong>of</strong> a fundamentally different social order that<br />
is held to be regulative for both social th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g and social action alike” (Alex-<br />
ander 2001:580). This def<strong>in</strong>ition, despite be<strong>in</strong>g a relatively flexible one, does<br />
not capture all <strong>the</strong> possible understand<strong>in</strong>gs or derivations <strong>of</strong> utopian thought.<br />
The fact that utopian visions always conta<strong>in</strong> someth<strong>in</strong>g normative about <strong>the</strong>m is<br />
certa<strong>in</strong>ly true but that <strong>the</strong>y necessarily need to propose a ‘model’ is not always<br />
<strong>the</strong> case, if we by model understand a formal picture <strong>of</strong> reality and how it<br />
should be moulded. Moreover, utopian visions can ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong>fer a positive pic-<br />
ture <strong>of</strong> an alternative reality, pose a negative picture <strong>of</strong> contemporary reality or<br />
both as well as suggest<strong>in</strong>g ways <strong>of</strong> transcend<strong>in</strong>g realised utopias (Tillich 1973).<br />
Depend<strong>in</strong>g on which <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se pictures <strong>of</strong> utopia is be<strong>in</strong>g proposed, <strong>the</strong>re are fur-<br />
<strong>the</strong>r differentiations to be drawn between various utopian strands.<br />
Therefore, sometimes utopia was presented as an end state to be reached at<br />
<strong>the</strong> future highpo<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> a l<strong>in</strong>ear and teleological development or it was <strong>in</strong> almost<br />
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