Community (eBook)

Seeking Safety in an Insecure World

Zygmunt Bauman (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2013 | 1. Auflage
168 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-7445-2 (ISBN)

Infos

'Community' is one of those words that feels good: it is good 'to
have a community', 'to be in a community'. And 'community' feels
good because of the meanings which the word conveys, all of them
promising pleasures, and more often than not the kind of pleasures
which we would like to experience but seem to miss.

'Community' conveys the image of a warm and comfortable place, like
a fireplace at which we warm our hands on a frosty day. Out there,
in the street, all sorts of dangers lie in ambush; in here, in the
community, we can relax and feel safe. 'Community' stands for the
kind of world which we long to inhabit but which is not,
regrettably, available to us. Today 'community' is another name for
paradise lost - but for a paradise which we still hope to find, as
we feverishly search for the roads that may lead us there.

But there is a price to be paid for the privilege of being in a
community. Community promises security but seems to deprive us of
freedom, of the right to be ourselves. Security and freedom are two
equally precious and coveted values which could be balanced to some
degree, but hardly ever fully reconciled. The tension between
security and freedom, and between community and individuality, is
unlikely ever to be resolved. We cannot escape the dilemma but we
can take stock of the opportunities and the dangers, and at least
try to avoid repeating past errors.

In this important new book, Zygmunt Bauman takes stock of these
opportunities and dangers and, in his distinctive and brilliant
fashion, offers a much-needed reappraisal of a concept that has
become central to current debates about the nature and future of
our societies.

Autor

Zygmunt Bauman is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw.

Inhalt

An Overture, or Welcome to Elusive Community.

The Agony of Tantalus.

Rerooting the Uprooted.

Times of Disengagement, or the Great Transformation Mark
Two.

Secession of the Successful.

Two Sources of Communalism.

Right to Recognition, Right to Redistribution.

From Equality to Multiculturalism.

The Bottom Line: The Ghetto.

Many Cultures, One Humanity?.

Afterword.

Notes.

Index

Rezensionen

"These books mark an important advance in Bauman's project. He
seems to be trying to bring the intellectuals back into the game,
twitting them for their passivity. Bauman wants social critics to
take a more active role, taking a lead by showing how the
relationships between individuals and society and between the
private and public spheres may be rearticulated and the spirit of
the agora restored to social and political life."

British Journal of Sociology

"This book is an example of what social thought can be when it
is carried out in terms of the highest of qualities. As such, it
demands to be read for two reasons; first, because of the
fascinating and new light it casts on otherwise well-worn debates
and second, as a call to arms."

Contemporary Sociology

"Bauman's argument is convincing and well substantiated. This
book forms an interesting and stimulating starting point for anyone
wishing to dig deeper into this field".

Gary Pattison, University of Southampton.
Network

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.6.2013
• Reihe/Serie: Themes for the 21st Century Series
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeine Soziologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Makrosoziologie
• Schlagworte: contemporary social theory • Social Identity • Sociology • Soziale Identität • Soziale Identität • Soziologie • Zeitgenössische Sozialtheorie • Zeitgenössische Sozialtheorie
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-7445-3 / 0745674453
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7445-2 / 9780745674452