Suffering in the Sociology of Zygmunt Bauman

The topic of human suffering loomed large throughout the writings of Zygmunt Bauman. If anything, his work can be characterized as a ‘sociology of suffering’. From the early writings until his very last, suffering constituted a key concern in Bauman’s description of the transformation of society from a solid-modern to a liquid-modern outlook. In his work, there are certain shifts in who and what he regards as the embodiments or expressions of suffering, and there is thus a keen eye on the changing landscape of suffering, its causes and consequences, from past to present. But there is nevertheless always a continuous and vehement defence for those living at the outskirts or at the bottom of society. The article will also explore what Bauman suggest should be done about the presence of suffering, and the article will briefly discuss the viability of his ideas on a morality of proximity as a way to alleviate suffering

Fear and Retrotopia – Critical Reflections on the Rise of Defensive Emotions in Liquid Modernity

This article critically addresses the contemporary study of what is called 'defensive emotions' such as fear and nostalgia among a number of social theorists. While it may be true that the collective emotions of fear and nostalgia (here framed by the phrase of 'retrotopia') may indeed be on the rise in Western liberal democracies, it is also important to be wary of taking the literature on the matter as a sign that fear and nostalgia actually permeate all levels of culture and everyday life. The article starts out with some reflections on the sociology of emotions and shows how the early interest in emotions (theoretical and empirical) among a small group of sociologists is today supplemented with the rise of a critical social theory using collective emotions as a lens for conducting a critical analysis of the times. Then the article in turn deals with the contemporary interest within varuious quarters of the social sciences with describing, analysing and diagnosing the rise of what is here called 'defensive emotions' – emotions that express and symbolize a society under attack and emotions that are mostly interpreted as negative signs of the times. This is followed by some reflections on the collective emotions of fear and nostalgia/retrotopia respectively. The article is concluded with a discussion of how we may understand and assess this relatively new interest in defensive emotions

Education as (de)humanization. A possibility for a creative dialogue between the social philosophies of Paulo Freire and Zygmunt Bauman

This article examines the works of two social critics – Paulo Freire and Zygmunt Bauman – with regard to the idea of education as a cause of dehumanization and/or humanization. The key terms and ideas the authors use in their critique of dehumanizationwithin social relations are compared: Freire’s concept of banking model of pedagogy isanalysed in contrast to Bauman’s philosopheme of adiaphorization. With both similar andvery different understandings of what it means to be human, the two authors search foralternatives to the status quo and to power relations of human subjects being treated asobjects – be it, in Freire’s case, the oppressed in the 20th century Brazil or, in Bauman’scase, the Holocaust victims in the 20th century and persons in the contemporary 21st century consumer society. The article aims at founding the thesis that both authors promote humanization, although in different ways, and that Bauman’s humanization throughmetaphors is in times of liquid modernity a contemporary form of Freire’s modern criticalpedagogy. The article also aims to generally present Bauman’s conception of education asthe author so far has been much less introduced in educational sciences than Freire is,and a comparison of their education philosophies reveals how modern and postmodernprinciples of the two theories and their practical implications complement one anotherand engage in a possibility for a creative dialogue.This article examines the works of two social critics – Paulo Freire and Zygmunt Bauman – with regard to the idea of education as a cause of dehumanization and/or humanization. The key terms and ideas the authors use in their critique of dehumanization within social relations are compared: Freire’s concept of banking model of pedagogy is analysed in contrast to Bauman’s philosopheme of adiaphorization. With both similar and very different understandings of what it means to be human, the two authors search for alternatives to the status quo and to power relations of human subjects being treated as objects – be it, in Freire’s case, the oppressed in the 20th century Brazil or, in Bauman’s case, the Holocaust victims in the 20th century and persons in the contemporary 21st century consumer society. The article aims at founding the thesis that both authors promote humanization, although in different ways, and that Bauman’s humanization through metaphors is in times of liquid modernity a contemporary form of Freire’s modern critical pedagogy. The article also aims to generally present Bauman’s conception of education as the author so far has been much less introduced in educational sciences than Freire is, and a comparison of their education philosophies reveals how modern and postmodern principles of the two theories and their practical implications complement one another and engage in a possibility for a creative dialogue

The Return of Death in Times of Uncertainty:A Sketchy Diagnosis of Death in the Contemporary ‘Corona Crisis’

For most parts of human history, death was an integral part of life, something that prehistoric and premodern man had no other option than to live with as best as possible. According to historians, death was familiar and tamed, it was at the center of social and cultural life. With the coming of modern secular society, death was increasingly sequestrated and tabooed, moved to the outskirts of society, made invisible and forbidden. Death became a stranger, and the prevalent attitude towards death was that of alienation. At the threshold of the 21st century, the topic of death again began to attract attention, becoming part of a revived death attitude described as ‘Spectacular Death’. In the article, the authors diagnose, analyze, and discuss the impact of the return of death during the current ‘Corona Crisis’, arguing that despite the fact that the concern with death is at the very core of the management of the crisis, death as such remains largely invisible. In order to provide such a diagnosis of the times, the authors initially revisit the prevailing death attitudes in the Western world from the Middle Ages to the present day