You’d think that increase in wealth would increase happiness, but it doesn’t.  It appears to  just increases crime:  

“All the available empirical data suggest that among the populations of affluent societies there may be no connection at all between rising affluence, believed to be the principal vehicle of a happy life, and greater happiness…On the whole, only a few percentage points separate countries with an average annual income per capita between 20,000 and 35,000 dollars from thoe below the barrier of 10,000 dolars…on the other hand, one social index that seems to be growing most spectacularly in line with the level of affluence…has so far been the incidence of criminality: of burglary and car theft, drug trafficking, econimc graft adn business corruption. And of an uncomforable and uneasy sensation of uncertainty, hard to bear, let alone to live with permanently.” –Zygmunt Bauman, “The Art of Life”

My new favorite author is definitely Zygmunt Bauman. He is a Jewish ex-communist from Poland who has taught in Britain since the 60’s and is now 84 and professor Emiretus at Leeds University.  He has written a lot on postmodern consumer culture.  I’m just finishing his “The Art of Life” (2008) and have really found it to be powerful, challenging, and well put. In sum: we generally think wealth will bring us possibilities which in turn will make us happy. We give up non-market paths to happiness (having leisure time, close friendships, home cooked meals in common with others, work-life balance) in order to accumulate money, in our pursuit of objects and experiences which will bring us our desired end: happiness. But in this pursuit we give up what actually would make us happy (friendships, leisure, etc). Our consumer culture pushes us towards this frenzy. We can purchase our identity and security through consumer labels and so remake ourselves constantly. In our ‘liquid modern’ age, things change so rapidly that the notion of revolution is redundant and trivialized, as things constantly change. Virtues have been radically shifted, so that stability and steadfastness, which were once considered assets, are now seen as liabilities while the ability to efface oneself and recreate, to let go of the past, ignore it and forget it– and instead be flexible always forever towards the future which is effaced as soon as it comes and become ‘history’– this is the new virtue. Bauman challenges us to be authentic selves who choose for ourselves how to live rather than adopting the consumerism of our age as he refers to many great and lesser known thinkers along the way. Here I will highlight some of the things that challenged me most in this book. While I do not agree with Bauman on all points, I certainly think he does a fabulous job explaining our current culture and our place in it, and I thoroughly agree with his challenge that we should authentically live our lives and take both personal existential and civic responsibility for the choices we make, as well as his concerns about the gradual erosion of civil society.

So the introduction to the book is called “whats wrong with happiness?” Whats wrong with it is that we tend to think happiness is increase in GNP– the wealthier a people become, the more likley they are to be happy, on the whole.  But studies seem to have shown clearly that happiness does not rise after you get to a basic level of economic development. More economic increase beyond that basic level does not increase happiness, but actually can decrease it. He has a great quote from Robert Kennedy from 1968:

“Our GNP…registers the costs of the security systems which we install to protect our homes and th eprisons in which we lock oup those who manage to break into them…It includes the production of napalm, nuclear arms and armed vehicles…It records…television programmes that florify violence in order to sell toys to children. On th eother hand, GNP does not note the health of our children, quality of our deducation or gaiety of our games. It does not measure the beauty of our poetry and the strength of our marriages. It does not care to evaluate the quality of our political debates and integrity of our representatives. It leaves out of consideration our courage, wisdom and culture. It says nothing about our compassion and dedication to our country. In a word, the GNP measures everything, except what makes life worth the pain of living it.”

Bauman points out that much of what is crucial to human happiness is not something you can buy: “Whatever your cash and credit standing, you won’t find in a shopping malllove and friendship, the pleasures of domesticity, the satisfaction that comes from caring for loved ones or helping a neighbour in distress, the self-esteeem to be drawn from work well done, gratifying the ‘workmanship instinct’ common to us all, the appreciation, sympathy and respect of workmates and other people with whom one associates; you won’t find there freedom from the threats of disregard, contempt, snubs and humiliation.”

The ironic fact is that as people attempt to buy consumer goods in order to be happy, their pursuit of that often leads them to give up these non-market avenues to happiness: “It may easily happen, and fequently does, that the losses exceed the gains and the capacity of increased income to generate happiness is overtaken by the unhappiness caused by a shrinking access to the goods which ‘money can’t buy’. Consumption takes time (as does shopping), and the sellers of consumer goods are naturally interested in tapering to a bare minimum the time dedicated to the enjoyable act of consuming. Simultaneously, they are interested incutting down as far as possible, or eliminating altogether, those necessary activities that occupy much time but bring few marketing profits.” (5)

In pursuit of wealth, to purchase commodities and experiences, people often neglect and so lose really meaningful avenues to authentic happiness: “Even the agreeable taste of the restaurant food or the high price tags and highly prestigious labels attached ot the gifts sold in the shops will, however, hardly match up to the value in added happiness of the goods for whose absence or rarity they are meant to compensate: such goods as gathering around a table laid with food that has been jointly cooked with its sharing in mind, or lenghty, attentive listening by a person-who-counts to one’s intimate thoughts, hopes and apprehensions, and similar proofs of loving attention, engagement and care.”

Many are unreflective about their consumerism, and the way it provides their goals, meanings, and basic framework and directives for their life.  People get the magazines which show them how to dress, they get their ideas of normal and new style from movies, television, media and the consumer culture experts.  Bauman points out that our culture trains the young in consumer savy before we teach them about wisdom: “Thanks to the diligence and expertise of the advertising copywriters, such life-and-(high)street wisdom tends nowadays to be acquired at a tender age, well before there is a first chance to hear subtle philosophical meditations on the nature of happiness and the ways toa happy life, let alone a chance to study them and reflect on their message.” So the young consumer-girl who knows already “how to make her wardrobe work well” makes regular and frequent trips to the best department store where she can be assured she will be ‘in fashion.’ “What the ferequent visits to Topshop means for her is first and foremost a comforting feeling of safety: Topshop’s buyers confront the risks of failure on her beahalf and take the resonsibility for the choice on themeslves…Liberty does not trust her own taste and discretion sufficiently to buy (let alone don in public) just what has caught her eye; but things she bought in that shop she can parade in public with confidence– confident of recognition, approval and, in the end, of th eadmiration and high status that closely follow it…” (10)

We buy our identity. We are in some sense considered by others (and then because of that by oneself) to be what we own– what we wear, drive, where we eat, where we live, what we live in. In this society of self-creation through consumption, “Labels, logos and brands are the terms of the language of recognition. what is hoped to be and as a rule is to be ‘recognized’ with the help of brands and logs is…identity…Once a ‘whole life’ project, idntity has now turned into an attribute of the moment. Once designed, it is no longer ‘built to last forever’, but needs to be continuously assembled and disassembled.”  And wemust do this in consumer culture.  The ironic twist to this is that this necessity– this requirement and responsibility to consume does not seem a burden because it is packaged and sold to us as “freedom”– freedom to choose who I am and what I will become.  But that it will be done through consumption is necessary– to be a good citizen of consumer culture. 

We live as a society of shoppers: “In a society of shoppers and a life of shopping we are happy as long as we haven’t lost the hope of becoming happy; we are secure from unhappiness as long as some of that hope is still ticking. And so the key to happiness and the antidote to miserty is to keep the hope of becoming happy alive. But it can stay alive only on the condition of a rapid succession of ‘new chances’ and ‘new bginnings’, and of the prospect of an infinitely long chain o f new starts ahead. That condition is brought about by slicing life into episodes…” Any indefinite, interminable commitment would severely limit the range of plots available for the succeding episodes. An indefinite commitment and the pursuit of happiness seem to be at cross-purposes.”

Bauman discusses how that today people fear the responsibility of ownership– so much so that his example is Fexpetz, a firm which rents pets to people so they don’t have to deal with the ‘pain of ownership’.  We fear getting locked in– because such duration, such ongoing stability, is likely to be a liability not an asset in a value system which prioritizes the potential to ebb and flow with the constantly changing environment in which we find ourselves in liquid modernity.  We must continually create and recreate ourselves. 

At the end of the introduction Bauman sums up life as art:

“Our lives, whether we know it or not and whether we relish the news or bewail it, are works of art. To live our lives as the art of life demands, we must, just like the artists of any art, set ourselves challenges which are difficult to confront point-blank; we must choose targets that are well beyond our reach, and standards of excellence that vexingly seem to stay stubbornly far above our ability to match whatever we do or may be doing. We need to attempt the impossible. And we can only hope, with no support from a trustworthy favourable prognosis (let alone from certainty), that with a long and grinding effort we may sometime manage to match those standards adn reach those targets and so rise to the challenge.”  This description of life as a work of art is not so liquid– it is old school in that Bauman talks about trustworthiness, long and grinding effort, stubbornly setting goals far beyond what we can accomplish at present.  So we see that Bauman’s description of liquid life in the liquid modern world of change and lack of commitments is really a critique of this consumer culture.

Perhaps the best quote in the whole book follows:
“UNCERTAINTY IS THE NATURAL HABITAT OF HUMAN LIFE– THOUGH THE HOPE OF ESCAPING UNCERTAINTY IS THE ENGINE OF HUMAN LIFE PURSUITS”
Our lives are filled with uncertainty. They are frail, fragile, changing and little is secure. In the face of this, we attempt to build identity through consumption, in a fruitless hope of gaining some sort of stabilization through objects and experiences outside ourselves.

This frenzied pursuit of goods– particularly of ostentatious consumption of exclusive products and high end commodities– actually shows how desperate and fragile people’s lives are: “The struggle for legitimacy through magnificence and excess implies instability and vulnerability” If I think my identity is made stable by purchasing a particular car or an expensive bottle of champagne, I definitely have an instable identity, shown to be vapid as soon as the champagne is gone. This one-upmanship consumerism is a failed project, and it ultimately leads to resentiment.

In chapter 1, Bauman refers often to ancient sages. I want to share just a few of the best quotes which he brings up:

Epictetus: “Think of your life as if it were a banquet where you would behave graciously. When dishes are passed to you, extend your hand and help yourself toa moderate protion. If a dish should pass you by, enjoy what is already on your plate. Or if the dish hasn’t been passed to you yet, patiently wait for your turn. Carry over the same attitude of polite restraint and gratitude to your children, spouse, career and finances. there is no need to yearn, envy and grab. You will get your rightful portion when it is your time.”  This patient mindfulness of self and others which can slow to appreciate the moment instead of rushing on to the next thing is a result of life choices contrary to the fast paced blur of liquid consumer life.

Seneca: “A nobler mind never wavers in its resolutions, neverbecomes  of self-contempt, never changes anything in its best way of life. it is the other way round with sensual pleasures: they cool down the moment they boil at their greatest heat. The volume of sensual pleasure is not great, and so it fills up rapidly, pleaure turns into surfeit and the original animation turns into dullness and sloth.”  Here Seneca reminds us of the long lasting sustainable profit of the non-sensual pleasures of a disciplined life of stable character. 

Epictetus: “If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people’;s opinions, you will never be rich.”

epictetus: “There is nothing that brings greater trouble on us than the fact that we conform to rumour, thinking that what has won widespread approval is best, and that, as we have so many to follow as good, we live by the principle, not of reason, but of imitation’;”

Epictetus: “a mass crowd is particularly important to avoid [since] the larger the size of the crowd we mingle with, the greater the danger.”

Pascal: “The sole cause of human happiness…is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” (we run out and about doing all sorts of things to distract ourselves and to keep from thinking or reflecting)

the last quote I will share is from bauman himself at the end of chapter 1:
“Twenty four hours a day and seven days a week humans tend to be drilled, groomed, exhorted, cajoled and tempted to abandon the ways they have considered right and proper, to turn their backs on what they have held dear adn what they thought had been making them happy, and to become different from what they are. They are pressed to turn into workers ready to sacrifice the rest of their lives for the sake of competitive enterprise or enterprising competition, into consumers moved by infinitely expandable desire sand wants, into citizens embracing fully and unreservedly the ‘there is no alternative’ edition of the’ politcal correctness’ of the day, which prods them, among other things, to be closed and blind to disinterested generosity and indifferent ot the common weal in case it can’t be deployed to enhance their egos…”

I hope that in this somewhat random series of quotations of and from bauman you get the idea of what he is saying– We are free to choose how we will live our lives. In our present culture we seem to be very influenced and affected by consumerism, which encourages us to think of ourselves and our happiness in terms of what we can buy– clothes, restaraunts, events, etc. He wants us to think: how does our consuming make us happier or less happy? What do we give up to consume? What do we gain? To what extent are our identities wrapped up in what we own? (perhaps the best way to evaluate this is to consider the time and thought we put into what we own– clothes, cars, etc) What are the non-market sources of pleasure that I do and can rely on which require little or no purchasing?

These are questions Christians ask too seldom. If they are asked, it is usually in the context of helping the poor or needy or missions with our money. But there is another question which needs to be asked– what are our values, and how are we spending our lives? One can continue to be a workaholic and divert much of one’s money to missions or the poor, but in that case have you really begun to live an excellent life? But Bauman is not calling us to a life of leisure and relaxation. He clearly says that an excellent life is possible when one expects the impossible and sets extraordinarily high goals for oneself. Mindlessly working 80 hour weeks in order to be a high level consumer of exclusive goods is fruitless. But for the rest of us the question still remains: what are we doing with our lives? Our lives are a work of art– there is potential for amazing lovely greatness, but only if we work hard and expect great things from ourselves. This life-stewardship is an essential part of the Christian Gospel– our lives have been bought with a price, and the life we now live is to be lived not for our own selfish pursuits, but in service to God and others. If our lives are not reflective of real others-centeredness, then we need to reconsider how we are living our lives.

May God have mercy on us all…

More books by Zygmunt Bauman:

Just three months after we married we had our first Christmas together.  We received a ‘first Christmas’ ornament as a wedding gift from Keith’s cousin and we placed it in a prominent place on our real Christmas tree that year.  We opened our presents, spent time with my father and his family then went to my mother-in-law’s home and spent the rest of the day with her, my brother-in-law and his wife, my Mom and brother.  The photos of that Christmas show I received a wine colored robe with matching, fuzzy, warm house shoes and Keith received a beautiful royal blue and black sweater, which he is wearing in the photo below.  Our time together was full of laughter, food and wine.

We’ve held on to that ornament and, each of our 20 Christmases together, it has been on our tree in about the same, prominent place.

Click to enlarge

This is my submission for the Advent Calendar Christmas Memories 2009.

]]> http://silviabiasutti.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/flash-mob-euforia-ed-omologazione/ Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:34:46 +0000 silviabiasutti http://silviabiasutti.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/flash-mob-euforia-ed-omologazione/

Nel ‘68 si gridava “Fantasia al potere”, uno slogan che è rimasto una pietra miliare nei movimenti giovanili di quegli anni. La fantasia era intesa come un potete antidoto contro una massa di persone sedate, al fine di credere nell’utopia e nel cambiamento, con delle idee forti e sentite.

Allora, si utilizzava il telefono fisso, le resposabilità erano maggiori: quando ci si dava un appuntamento non si poteva ricorrere al fidato telefono cellulare per arrabatarsi all’ultimo, chi c’era c’era, chi non c’era si arrangiava. Le persone si ritrovavano in luoghi fisici precisi, con un senso di comunità  su base locale ed i confronti non potevano che essere per lo più “face to face” come si dice oggi. Il confronto e le idee nascevano nelle taverne, nelle sedi dei partiti, nei bar (luogo che tutt’oggi resiste a questo scopo, pensate agli imprenditori veneti), nelle piazze, nelle case private. C’erano riferimenti saldi.

Poi sono passate quattro decadi ed è noto ai più come quell’onda si sia affievolita fino a rendere l’atmosfera culturale asfissiante e priva di stimoli decisivi. Bando alla nostalgia di “quei tempi là” come canta qualcuno, rievocare gli anni del “flower power” significa essere fuori dal tempo, fuori dallo spazio. C’è internet, bisogna adeguarsi.

I Social Network, strumento blasonato da migliaia di fervidi sostenitori di MySpace, Facebook e parentado, svelano alcuni risvolti raggelanti da un punto di vista sociologico. Uno degli ultimi trend fioriti dalla rete è “Flash Mob” (dal 2003), un meeting pseudo-segreto che raduna decine di individui in un dato luogo ed in un dato momento al fine di compiere un gesto no-sense (lo dichiarano orgogliosamente i leader del movimento) per, sentite un pò, “rompere la routine”.

Il movimento è partito dalla Grande Mela, per approdare a Roma, Milano e pure nelle città di provincia come Udine. La mobilitazione, che prevederebbe una macchina organizzativa laboriosa, è resa iper fluida grazie alla notevole semplicità di contatti favorita dai suddetti Social Network. Qualche esempio: le battaglie di cuscini in piazza, il balletto in onore di Jackson. Il tutto dura una manciata di minuti. Le persone radunate sono una massa acritica che si unisce per un brevissimo lasso di tempo: l’incontro non prevede l’appofondimento di conoscenze interpersonali. Al termine della performance ognuno se ne và per i fatti propri. Fine.

Personalmente ho partecipato ad un free hugs happening a Iasi (Romania) e l’ho trovato assolutamente inutile, privo di senso e di arricchimento. Questi movimenti che nascono dalla rete sono un monito: la società occidentale cerca di trovare un antidoto alla noia, un tumore che in Italia è al suo stato terminale. C’è mancanza di fantasia: dove sono gli intellettuali? Dove sono i talenti? Pochi all’estero, pochi in Patria. Ecco che allora i Social Network vengono in contro ad una massa fiacca, senza idee innovative.

Nota il sociologo Domenico De Masi: “Non mi pare che ci si ritrovi per risolvere un’ equazione matematica, piuttosto per compiere basse imprese: un gavettone, uno scappellotto. È probabilmente un modo per non sentirsi isolati nella mediocrità e per evitare confronti con parametri più alti”.

Non avere scopo è lo scopo di queste trovate che i più potranno giudicare ludiche, ma che sotto sotto sono lo specchio di una massa senza spirito critico, che rifugge l’attività cerebrale. Una massa dove gli individui, per dirla con le parole di Bauman sono “pienamente postmoderni, vivono costantemente passioni tristi e necessitano di una folla in cui nascondersi, per esprimere la propria opinione. L’unico modo quindi, per impegnarsi in qualcosa, è quello di sapere che questa finirà in pochi minuti e non lascerà a suo seguito niente, se non un breve, simpatico ricordo nel  tragitto tra il posto di lavoro o casa.”

Resumo capítulo 10 – Sociologia Contemporânea

Modernidade e pós-modernidade

- Multiplicidade de conceituações acerca da modernidade: alguns consideram que ela deu lugar à pós-modernidade, outros, como Giddens, denominam a contemporaneidade como modernidade tardia;

- Touraine: “A modernidade é a expressão historicista da razão objetiva”. Representa, portanto, o rompimento com a tradição, com a visão sacralizada do homem e do mundo e afirma valores considerados profanos;

- A modernidade é antropocêntrica e confronta-se com as tradições religiosas;

- Surge a visão positiva da ciência, onde a fé na universalidade da razão humana e o otimismo no progresso constituem-se como nova estrutura de razoabilidade do mundo;

- Martelli: “o progresso constitui-se como um valor em si mesmo – progresso gerando cada vez mais progresso” (p.141);

- A racionalidade e a fé no progresso, típicas da modernidade, têm como conseqüência o acentuado crescimento econômico e um igual subdesenvolvimento social;

- Outra característica da modernidade é a artificialidade da ordem, como em Bauman, já que é concebida como natural, embora sem o reconhecimento de que seja socialmente produzida;

- Outros aspectos distintivos da modernidade (segundo Gadea): a ordem social no contexto da modernidade prioriza a igualdade (processo de homogeneização, que tem como característica o não-reconhecimento das diferenças); o império da funcionalidade (princípios não-vinculantes*); meta-relatos explicativos da realidade (princípios da legitimação da realidade); priorização do sujeito universal (relação mundo-pessoa), surgido da compatibilidade entre os conceitos de universalidade e homogeneização;

- A pós-modernidade: o “novo” da modernidade (p.143);

- Perda de força na fé na universalidade humana, dissociação entre saberes especializados e do senso comum, que enfraquece e fragmenta o saber científico, onde surge um contexto de descontinuidades e conflitualidades;

- Por outro lado, a complexidade das relações sociais aumenta, já que elementos da modernidade e pós-modernidade coexistem na cultura, nos modelos referenciais individuais e nas representações sociais;

- No contexto pós-moderno, progresso de objetivos como rotina, tornando-se uma fatalidade que se rotiniza;

- Na modernidade a imagem e a realidade são distintas, ao passo que, na pós-modernidade, a imagem e a realidade são uma coisa só, e sua existência basta para produzir conseqüências;

- Martelli: “O Simulacro, ou seja, uma efetividade social sem original é um símbolo pós-moderno, enquanto revela potencialidades e limites de um campo específico, a comunicação, que é regido por regras próprias e produz efeitos sociais determinados, embora não possa ser definido real em sentido tradicional” (p.145);

- Bauman: “As pontes coletivamente erigidas entre a transitoriedade e a eternidade se degradaram e o indivíduo foi deixado cara a cara com a própria insegurança existencial, pura e intacta. Agora espera-se que ele ou ela enfrente sozinho(a) as conseqüências” (p.145);

- Gadea considera, no contexto pós-moderno, que a evolução do tempo é amorfa e contingencial, dirigida, portanto, pela eventualidade. Há uma priorização do presente, de forma que o regimento das condutas individuais e coletivas é imediatista. Surge o processo de reencantamento com o mundo, na medida em que a crise da razão recoloca o transcendente em voga. A vida passa a ser vista como lúdica, em uma concepção dionisíaca da vida, de forma a buscar felicidade. A neocomunidade surge como organização social, que tem a heterogeneidade, a diferença, o reconhecimento social e o respeito como fatores vinculantes à neoafetividade, já que a agregação humana ocorre por proximidades e sociabilidades. A realidade é múltipla em razão da multiplicidade de sujeitos. A relação dos indivíduos com o mundo se dá pela relativização, ou seja, pela consideração de que existem múltiplos EUS e inúmeras variáveis nas sociedades, de modo que não é possível estabelecer uma verdade (grifo meu). Não há, portanto, funções integradoras, de agregação social;

- As conseqüências deste processo podem ser percebidas na diminuição da solidariedade, no escasseamento da formação de comunidades constituídas solidamente, exacerbação do individualismo, isolamento dos grupos sociais e indivíduos, desenvolvimento de sentimentos xenofóbicos e fundamentalistas em países desenvolvidos e subdesenvolvidos, o que faz frente à insegurança resultante do contexto, onde a ilusão parece substituir a realidade.

Referência:

Sociologia Contemporânea / [Obra]

organizada pela Universidade

Luterana do Brasil (Ulbra). -

Curitiba: Ibpex, 2008.

One Halloween, when I was about 4, I was with my Mom, my friend Stephanie and her mom walking around the neighborhood.  Stephanie stepped into the street from in between some parked cars and was hit by a car.  She was apparently thrown a good way but not seriously hurt, I don’t even think she was taken to the doctor but it left a fear of crossing the street in me that is still present today.  Ever since that time, I put my arm out to cause whoever I am crossing a street with to pause and look before stepping out.  I’m sure it looked a bit odd when I was little because I was doing that for all ages including adults.  It doesn’t seem as odd today except I’m likely to realize I’m doing it for strangers too, if I don’t force myself to stop.  I have only a couple of photos of me dressed up for Halloween, one my mom posted at DonnaB’s Weblog tonight and the other was in 1985 when I wore my mother’s 1958 high school prom dress to work on Halloween.

Kay wearing her mother's 1958 HS prom dress in 1985

A few years later, in 1988, I wore my Mom’s prom dress again and this time to a Halloween party where I met my future husband.  We were both wearing our mother’s dresses!  He wore a baby blue work dress with panty hose, high heels, a very padded bra, painted fingernails, and makeup (no wig, as I recall).  My husband is over 6′ tall as is his mother so he was quite noticeable to me and perhaps I was to him because we soon began talking and then dating.  Just last month we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.  The 51 year old prom dress is safely tucked away in my cedar chest.

Up close of the glasses

[...] Ainda não houve uma ruptura que parte para algo completamente novo, deixando o modernismo pra trás. Encontramo-nos em um intervalo no tempo que não se desligou completamente do passado, seja ele ‘pós-modernismo’, ‘modernidade líquida’ ou ‘hipermodernidade’.

O conceito de “interregno” proposto por Bauman (2009a) sintetiza perfeitamente o que enfrentamos na contemporaneidade. O termo originalmente significa o “hiato de tempo que separa o falecimento de um monarca soberano até a entronização do seu sucessor” (BAUMAN, 2009a, p.01). Neste momento, a suspensão temporária das leis e das normas existentes era proclamada e as gerações aguardavam por uma ruptura na forma de continuidade do governo, da lei e da ordem social.

Gramsci amplia, no entanto, o conceito de “interregno” com um novo significado, abrangendo o mais amplo espectro de aspectos sócio-político-jurídicos da ordem e, simultaneamente, atingindo mais profundamente a condição sócio-cultural. Ou melhor, [...] Gramsci liberta a idéia de “interregno” de sua habitual associação com intervalo de (uma rotina) de transmissão hereditária ou poder elegível, e anexa a situações extraordinárias em que o quadro jurídico existente de uma ordem social perde a sua aderência e já não pode se impor, enquanto que um novo quadro, feito à medida das forças recém-emergidas que gera as condições responsáveis por tornar o antigo quadro inútil, ainda está na fase concepção, ainda não foi completamente montado ou não é suficientemente forte para ser colocado em seu lugar. (BAUMAN, 2009a, p.01)

Assim, o autor propõe reconheçamos “a atual condição planetária como um caso de interregno”, em que a velha ordem está morrendo e o novo ainda não existe ou não tem forças o suficiente para assumir seu lugar.

Esta condição torna-se mais sintomática na arte contemporânea. Apesar de ser considerada por vários autores uma evolução artística da arte moderna, uma nova etapa da arte com suas peculiaridades, ela ainda carrega muitas características enraizadas no passado. Para Anne Cauquelin (2005) o ‘estado contemporâneo’ deve ser encarado como um sistema que não pertence mais a ordem que prevaleceu até recentemente, e por isto, nem suas obras e nem suas produções devem mais ser julgados de acordo com a antiga estrutura da tal ordem. Como não sabemos dizer ao certo que critérios permeiam a arte contemporânea, instala-se um mal-estar toda vez que tentamos avaliá-la, devido ao seu pouco tempo de existência.

Sem dúvida, é essa arte moderna que nos impede de ver a arte contemporânea tal como é. Próxima demais, ela desempenha o papel do ‘novo’, e nós temos a propensão de querer nela incluir à força as manifestações atuais. (CAUQUELIN, 2005, p. 19)

Para Cauquelin, assim como para Natalie Heinich, é importante que não adotemos mais classificações que remetam sucessões temporais. Para elas, esta concepção do termo ‘contemporâneo’ no sentido estrito do termo – o agora, o simultâneo – tem sido o principal causador de confusões e polêmicas na hora de reconhecer ou classificar alguma produção atual. Esta lógica de evolução, classificada pelos ‘neo’, ‘pré’, ‘pós’ ou ‘trans’, não suporta mais as discussões que tratam de apreender a pluralidade de ‘agoras’.

Precisamos, portanto, atravessar essa cortina de fumaça e tentar perceber a realidade da arte atual que está encoberta. Não somente montar o panorama de um estado de coisas – qual é a questão da arte no momento atual – mas também explicar o que funciona como obstáculo a seu reconhecimento. Em outras palavras, ver de que forma a arte do passado nos impede de captar a arte de nosso tempo. (CAUQUELIN, 2005, p. 18)

Deste modo, assumiremos a proposta de Natalie Heinich (2008) em estabelecer a arte contemporânea como um gênero da arte atual, da mesma forma que admitimos sem dificuldades que a ‘música contemporânea’ é só um dos diversos gêneros musicais que existem atualmente na música. O gênero da arte contemporânea, em suma, constitui apenas uma parte da produção artística do presente.

Click to enlarge

The size 5 sterling silver Cub Scout ring sits in our curio cabinet along with a photo of Keith wearing it and a postcard from him to his Grandmother.  In describing the history of the ring, Keith says:

Another of the family curios in our cabinet is a Cub Scout ring that I have owned since I was maybe 6 or 7.

It was given to me as a parting gift by my den mother of the Cub Scout pack I belonged to when we lived in Las Vegas, Nevada about 1966.  Dad had received orders that would take us to Honolulu, Hawaii.

I cannot remember the details of the organization such as pack number or anything like that.  I do remember our den mother was named Mrs. Regetti, that spelling is phonetic but her named rhymed with Spaghetti.  She lived in a very nice house with a pool in the back.  My mother told me that Mrs. Regetti’s husband was employed at one of the casinos.  I do remember my Cub Scout den all piling into her convertible to go Christmas caroling.

I wore the ring when we lived in Hawaii until I outgrew it.  Miraculously it did not get lost over the years like so many things like that will.

Keith’s mother managed to also save a postcard that Keith sent to his Grandmother Bullard while he was living in Hawaii.  It’s postmarked July 12, 1969 and Keith talks about his activities in Boy Scouts as well as his aunt, uncle and cousins’ visit with them.  He can’t imagine that his hunt and peck typing skills at the age of 10 managed to do this good of a job but he doesn’t recall who typed it for him.   Keith remembers that the typewriter they used was his Grandmother Bullard’s, which she used to type her thesis in 1928 before she married. (Garee, Elizabeth, “The relation of the Oklahoma inspection bureau to cities in Oklahoma.” M.S. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1928.)

il Giornale_20 ott 2009_Viva il posto fisso (senza fannulloni)

Oggi, la necessità di certezze e di punti di riferimento frustra la società perché non sono percepibili e, tantomeno, raggiungibili. Chi vuole “fare famiglia” e tessere la “tela sociale” ha bisogno di stabilità e di valori cui fare riferimento; l’essere mobile e/o nomade per lavoro crea irrequietezza, incertezza, solitudine, infedeltà e può peggiorare la qualità della vita. Quindi …?… Non c’è mai un tuttogiusto/tuttosbagliato, ma è necessario cercare di concepire l’essere mobile come un “mezzo” per poter raggiungere il valore della stabilità: una stabilità che, fondamentalmente, dev’essere una condizione psicologica e morale, perché è con noi stessi che dobbiamo confrontarci davanti allo specchio. Quando siamo da soli, privi del giudizio e dell’approvazione/disapprovazione altrui, riusciamo ad avere la dimensione della nostra soddisfazione e, quindi, riusciamo a trovare “stabilità”; diversamente, ci accorgiamo della nostra instabilità interiore, status dell’anima e della psiche che ci preoccupa e ci rende infelici e turbati.

In ambito lavorativo è importante cercare e ottenere stabilità: non significa solo tranquillità stipendiale, bensì  solidità di rapporti interpersonali, corporativismo, spirito di gruppo, soddisfazione e fidelizzazione; i rapporti tra datore di lavoro e collaboratori/dipendenti possono migliorare e diventare produttivamente utili; si può parlare di “capitale umano” solo in presenza di solidità di rapporti e fiducia reciproca e … questo si ottiene solo con stabilità e predominanza dell’ESSERE sull’AVERE.

Viviamo in una società dove il “metro” per misurare il valore/la capacità delle persone è il giudizio sul posseduto o su quanto prodotto (peraltro, assolutamente necessario): questa valutazione è piuttosto superficiale e alquanto pragmatica e semplicistica, poiché si basa su criteri quantitativi d’apparenza; siamo ben lontani dalla misura della qualità e dell’eccellenza che si auspica in tutti i campi applicativi, sia pubblici che privati.

Quindi, cerchiamo la stabilità che non sia sinonimo di inerzia, fissità, assenza di talento e rifugio di nullafacenti, mediocri e parassiti;  cerchiamo di ricercare e individuare la stabilità positiva derivante dalla qualità dei rapporti, dalla buona comunicazione, dal benessere psicofisico e dalla vera qualità della vita.

Ora, a Voi la parola … la giornata e stata lunga e impegnativa e … non vorrei ripetermi e/o scrivere qualche banalità … Buona notte.

Ver archivo de entrevista

ENTREVISTA CON ZYGMUNT BAUMAN 2009

(Gentileza del Dr. Robinson Salazar)

]]> http://sociologicahumanitatis.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/sobre-sociologica-humanitatis/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:56:53 +0000 sociologos en el espacio http://sociologicahumanitatis.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/sobre-sociologica-humanitatis/

Este blog quiere dar cuenta de todo lo que hay dando vueltas sobre sociología en la red. Esa es su función y con ese fin fue creado. Hay una innumerable cantidad de temas, blogs, autores, libros, cursos, noticias, reportajes, video, entrevista que dan cuenta del quehacer de la disciplina en la actualidad.  Son tantos los temas, autores, items, etc. que posee este blog, que resulta imposible enumerar a todos. Para ayudarte hemos ideado las etiquetas que podes ver al inicio del blog, que te cuenta que material vas a encontrar allí (videos, hemeroteca, cursos, novedades, etc). También hay una etiqueta llama “indice” en la que podes encontrar  con facilidad todo lo que está en la solapa izquierda de la pantalla (asociaciones profesionales, congresos, sociologias temáticas, etc)

Esperamos que todo lo que encuentres te guste, te resulte interesante o te sea de utilidad. Te pedimos por favor que si tenes problemas con algo del material que aquí se muestra, nos lo hagas saber. También pensamos que la información que contiene este blog está bastante bien organizada como para dar con ella con facilidad. Si buscas algo y no lo encontras, te pedimos también que nos lo hagas saber. En una de las solapas superior del blog podes encontrar nuestros mails.

Que disfrutes tu paseo por aquí. Gracias por la visita!!

Essa frase do jornalista argentino Ezequiel Fernández-Moore sintetiza o atual cenário da sociedade da informação (ou do espetáculo, mas não do conhecimento). Pode ser percebida de modo ainda mais sensível no comportamento dos jovens – a geração das manchetes! Ao mesmo tempo em que tem acesso a tecnologia e informação, não absorve o conteúdo, mas passa por ele de maneira superficial, em busca sempre da novidade – o novo pelo novo.

O sociólogo polonês Zygmunt Bauman e o filósofo francês Gilles Lipovetsky já diagnosticaram essa característica tão presente na “pós-modernidade”. Bauman se refere à Modernidade Líquida, e Lipovetsky à Hipermodernidade. Suas obras são essenciais para compreendermos esse aspecto do comportamento humano, tanto no âmbito individual quanto no coletivo.

Eduardo Galeano, renomado escritor e jornalista uruguaio, também faz uso da frase de Fernández-Moore no texto “O direito de expressão é o direito de escutar?”, publicado em seu mais recente livro: De pernas pro ar, da editora LPM.

Para Galeano, “a tecnologia põe a imagem, a palavra e a música ao alcance de todos, como nunca antes ocorrera na história humana, mas essa maravilha pode se transformar num logro para incautos se o monopólio privado acabar impondo a ditadura da imagem única, da palavra única e da música única. Ressalvadas as exceções, que afortunadamente existem e não são poucas, essa pluralidade tende, em regra, a nos oferecer milhares de possibilidades de escolher entre o mesmo e o mesmo.”

Vale a pena ler todo o texto, disponível no site Carta Maior:
http://www.cartamaior.com.br/templates/materiaMostrar.cfm?materia_id=16167

Ou comprar o livro:
- DE PERNAS PRO AR – Eduardo Galeano
http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/scripts/cultura/resenha/resenha.asp?nitem=5086320&sid=01131854011107469822636281&k5=1D65BF7B&uid

By now I have been on the road a little over a year, and if you want to be strict, over three years, actually. Some time in mid-August 2006, Maria and me packed all my belongings in the Schulzestrasse 22, 13187 Berlin-Pankow, and off I went, to Pittsburgh, Berlin, Toronto, more Berlin, DC, Jerusalem, Givat Haim, Prague and now London. While I do like being on the road, the uprootedness has by now reached a point where I started to be saturated with the strange and new. The topic being a complex one, let me touch on a few points.

It is a strange mixture of exotic and identical, be it Prague or Israel, DC or London. Everywhere you get around by public transport, listen to your favorite radio on the internet, read the NY Times online, drink tea, go to yoga, go swimming, every morning go the archive and in the evening go home again. You skype with your friends, keep organizing this and that. And in the meantime – in the meantime you peek out of the streetcar, bus or the subway, and see the city is a different one. What you start observing are the little interactions of the passers-by on the street, the reactions in the shopping line, the hidden fights for a seat in the subway, the way others look at you – or not – in a café. In this respect, it may be that the Czechs will appear strange for their peculiar clustering and speaking in low voices, for their lack of being upfront. Meantime: Because otherwise, you mind your own business. Strangely, as one grows older, I have realized, one grows less fond of people, less curious – and it may be the traveling – but what I call the social muscle grows tired.

Traveling is liberating, alongside the Baumanian pilgrim/vagabond concept (the masterless traveler, outside of the social networks), and I have been enjoying, and do enjoy, this borderless I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me moment, you know, the lilies and fowls, this pleasant hanging-in-there-somewhere. I certainly don’t miss the rigid university responsibilities. But what follows?

Firstly, somehow one’s capacity to take in the exotic surrounding, ancient buildings, paintings, houses, sightseeing and all – is very limited, after a day in the archive. I am not sure if it is connected with the nature of things I work about, or simply that after a day’s work, you are not that curious any more.

Then you get to miss your friends. Naturally, they are somewhere else, be it in Berlin, Toronto, Jerusalem or Prague. As you travel, you accommodate, make new friends, re-establish the self as well as you can, introduce it to the new surroundings and make yourself liked. And then comes the new stage, and again you move, and again you stand in front of a vacuum. On the danger of sounding sulky: How does it exactly work, meeting new people? Where, when you work (and hence not talk) until six or so? Preferably even outside of one’s profession and within my own generation? These travels made me realize that very many people of my age and vaguely class background (yet another thing that gets cruelly mixed up by the traveling) are married and have children. Marriage/children/cohabitating is, let’s face it, the definitive push somewhere else. There is a limited set of things you can do with these people. (I think). If I ever get married, I sometimes ponder, it will out of the social panic.

And then as you grow older, you are so much more set about people you like, and not. Compromises become more difficult, and one wonders how do you come across; but then you so often don’t bother. I  have this repeating feeling like a caravan, Anna Ltd, that carries on, with my many undertakings and branches, my many selves and layers, that constitute me, but that really would be a bit of an imposition to expect anyone new to come to terms with. And yet otherwise we wouldn’t me that intimate, and if we are not, then it doesn’t matter so much. And then you are alone again – one possible stream of thinking.

Then there are the commiserating friends, who automatically freak out about your shallow, bleak life, full of abnegations and lonesomeness. It is really a bit more difficult than that. I do the traveling for a reason, I do like it. One can be at one’s own, alone, outside, like it, but also be lonely, at the same time. You become much more moody. I have been reading Zygmunt Bauman on traveling the other day, and was a bit taken aback by his smart, yet bleak views of matters, that were so familiar. What I was trying to say in this entry I guess is that I cannot say it is particularly happy or not. It is different, and much of it comes with the package, as you realize with time, things one wouldn’t have thought of. You simply continue, go along, take in some, and much goes unnoticed.

Estos días nos sorprenden las noticias en los periódicos y la televisión sobre los hechos de Pozuelo, bueno mejor dicho, los disturbios. Parece una dato contrastable que una turba de adolescentes se dirigió a una comisaria con el fin de asaltarla.

Estos hechos se presentan de forma alarmante en los medios, pero no por el hecho en sí, sino porque el asalto se produjo a las fuerzas del orden (paradojas de la vida) o lo que Althusser denominaba como el poder opresor del Estado. Las fuerzas del orden tienen una finalidad muy clara que es estar al servicio de la sociedad para evitar conductas antisociales, aunque normalmente suelen estar del lado del poderoso para imponer su criterio, independiéntemente de este. En ese sentido Bauman considera que la marginalidad es necesaria para saber que sino nos sometemos al sistema acabaremos así, pero también es necesario una fuerza del orden (social) que haga que la marginalidad no se mezcle con lo demás.

Ante esto, lo sorprendente es que en una de las zonas con una renta per cápita más alta del país se produzcan estos hechos. Ahí no hay marginalidad, ni anti-sistemas… sino burgueses acomodados.

¿Entonces, qué sucede si las propias clases medias-altas asaltan al Estado?.

El problema a mi parecer es educativo: una educación permisiva. Sí bien la educación autoritaria destruye a la persona, pero le permite la inserción social; La educación permisiva destruye a la persona, pero no permite la inserción social.

¿Dónde nos encontramos ahora?. Pues en un lugar en el que años de permisividad por la mala conciencia de los padres trabajadores que no han dedicado todo el tiempo que les gustaría a sus hijos se está pagando. Ser permisivo con un niño de 4 años apenas trae consecuencias inmediatas. Lo más que puede hacer es patalear hasta que se le compra el helado, pero a largo plazo trae grandes consecuencias. Con 18 años ya no apetece un helado, los retos son mayores, como asaltar comisarias. Y a un adolescente que no se le ha explicado que significa “No” y que no lo ha vivido, no le cabe la imposibilidad de hacer algo. Para el padre es un problema, porque solucionar un conflicto de un niño en la guardería no requiere mucho y el niño sale indemne, pero solucionar un asalto a una comisaria sólo se hará con fuertes multas e incluso cárcel.

La solución es fácil, muchas horas de diálogo y toneladas de paciencia. Es decir, educar en democracia. Pero la democracia no es que gana la mayoría, sino la razón, y aunque 200 personas voten que hay que asaltar una comisaria, democráticamente es una barbaridad y un atentado a la sociedad. La democracia tiene limites y el padre o el educador debe enseñárselos al joven, no imponérselos, sino enseñarselos mediante el convencimiento (es decir venciéndole con la razón).

¿Cuál es el lugar para dar clase?. Podría decirse que el aula, pero no tiene por qué. Bauman explica que las aulas son instituciones panópticas como las fábricas de la modernidad o las iglesias. Es decir, lugares en los que no hay confianza, en los que el jefe se busca una posición de privilegio para vigilar a los empleados. Alumnos, operarios, feligreses… no son de confianza. Si no hubiera un ser “superior” que los llevara por el camino del bien no harían nada. Menos mal que están los jefes que saben que es bueno para cada uno (y nos dan de comer).

Resulta que hay gente que confía en los estudiantes, en los empleados y en los feligreses. Hoy estábamos reunidos fuera del horario, por el placer de hablar de educación. De eso que nos gusta tanto que nos hace que vayamos a clase en horas de descanso, de eso que hace que hoy mismo nos juntáramos fuera del horario porque el lunes fue fiesta y no pudimos tener clase. El caso es que las aulas estaban ocupadas y estábamos tirados en unos sofás iniciando un dialogo para compartir saberes. Tan cómodos nos encontrábamos que alguien dijo ¡¡¡Sólo nos faltaba una caña!!!… Y por qué no. ¿Por qué no hablar de educación delante de una bebida, en una mesa de bar y con un cigarro?

Algunos lo han entendido. Otros estaban impactados y no han reaccionado. Pero la realidad es que hemos hablado de educación, de la vida, de los proyectos que tenemos… y fuera del aula. Las ideas no están en las aulas, al igual que la autoridad. Las ideas están en las cabezas, como la capacidad de atención. Y la autoridad esta en la competencia, no en la capacidad de ordenar.

Espero que la conclusión de la experiencia sea que compartir ideas es posible en cualquier contexto, que la educación está en la calle. La educación, para un maestro, es la vida misma y se encuentra donde estemos presentes con ganas de compartir.

Dedicado a los que compartimos saber sin tener clase.

Per Bauman, il soggetto postmoderno, che è un “collezionista di piaceri”, desidera la differenza dell’altro e perciò se ne prende la responsabilità.

Se questo è vero, l’atteggiamento responsabile, morale, risulta compatibile con la rincorsa dei desideri, ma ha bisogno di educarli.

Comitato per il progetto culturale della CEI, La sfida educativa, Laterza 2009

Albid Nigh Bauman and his family migrated to New Orleans with some neighbors and the neighbors moved on to Grand Saline, Texas while Albid and his family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana by 1840.  Later, Albid still missed a neighbor girl who had moved to Grand Saline so he moved to Grand Saline, Texas and married that girl, Rebecca Stephenson.

The Family Bible photo courtesy of Larry Johnson; click to enlarge

On October 26, 1852 when Rebecca Stephenson was 16 years old, she and 21 year old Albid Bauman married in Upshur County, Texas.  Over the next twenty one years they had eleven children.  Then at the age of 37, while pregnant with their twelfth child, Rebecca contracted the bloody flux (something like severe diarrhea) and she and the baby (possibly named Molly) died.  They are buried together at Mechanicsville Cemetery also known as the Robbs/Bauman cemetery, near Mt. Sylvan, Texas behind a farmhouse and barn.  The inscription on Rebecca’s headstone reads “A devoted wife and Mother and a lover of the Lord Jesus.”

I have no images of Rebecca but I do have one of Albid taken on his wedding day with his second wife.  Within 6 months of Rebecca’s death, when Albid was 42 he married 24 year old Julia Ann Angeline Martha Clementine Higgins.  The photo is of a tintype (which are reversed) and their faces don’t seem very happy.  Martha (also called Julia) had married Robert Lowry first and they had 2 children together.  Over the next 17 years Albid and Martha had ten children.

Click to enlarge

Albid, fathered 22 children, counting the one unborn child, and of those, 20 lived to adulthood.  His last child was born almost 9 months after he died at the age of 60 in 1891.

I have been working for years to learn of all of his children’s children and am still working on it.  My husband descends from Albid and his first wife, Rebecca’s 8th child, George Washington Bauman.

My Posts about Albid:

• Wordless Wednesday – Albid’s business card
• Albid Nigh Bauman
• Tombstone Tuesday - stories about Albid as a father included

Further Information:

Mechanicsville -  on page 9 & 10 of this pdf is information about Albid and his wife Rebecca with some photos