10 research outputs found
Agency and Structure in Zygmunt Bauman's Modernity and the Holocaust
The article explores how in Modernity and the Holocaust to his liquid turn\ud
writings Zygmunt Bauman’s work assumes that people live in a deterministic\ud
world. Bauman fails to distinguish agency as an analytical category in its own\ud
right and as such fails to capture self-determination, agential control and moral\ud
responsibility. All of Bauman’s work is based upon the assumption that the\ud
individual loses their autonomy and the ability to judge the moral content of their\ud
actions because of adiaphortic processes external to themselves as individuals\ud
giving rise to agentic state in which the individual is unable to exercise their\ud
agency. In contrast to the argument in Modernity and the Holocaust this article\ud
suggests that the Nazis developed a distinct communitarian ethical code rooted\ud
in self-control that encouraged individuals to overcome their personal feeling\ud
states, enabling them to engage in acts of cruelty to people defined as outside\ud
of the community. In his post-2000 work where the emphasis is on the process\ud
of liquefaction there is the same undervaluing of human agency in the face of\ud
external forces reflected in Bauman’s concepts of ambivalence, fate and swarm
The Banality of Rhetoric? Assessing Steven Katz's “the Ethic of Expediency” against Current Scholarship on the Holocaust
Das Human-Kapital: A Theory of the Demise of the Class Structure
The history of society is the history of struggles between social classes. Copyright 2006 The Review of Economic Studies Limited.
Working Towards Fuhrer: A Chaotic View
Leadership is a concept that has been discussed since the beginning of history. Even though there have been many theories in the field accepting leadership's role in bringing order, chaotic aspects of leadership are generally neglected. This chapter aims to examine the leadership beyond an orderly interpretation of universe. For this purpose, Third Reich period and leadership during this period will be examined. Ian Kershaw's "Working Towards Fuhrer" concept provides a unique understanding of leadership concept. It goes beyond the dualist depiction of Third Reich, it does not state Adolf Hitler as an all powerful dictator, or a weak one. Rather, he expresses that due to the conditions in the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler was both of this. This complex situation can be understood deeper when it is examined through the lens of chaos theory. This study contributes to the field by being the first in using chaos theory for examining "Working Towards Fuhrer" concept and its development. Seemingly orderly nature of synchronization process and its vortex will be shown. Adolf Hitler's storm spot position in the chaotic system and its dynamics are explained. War's entropic power and its effect on the downfall of the system is crucial in understanding this unique chaotic system. The chaotic pattern of "Working Towards Fuhrer" offers an opportunity to analyze the complexities of the leadership concept