The recent passing of Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman allows us to further reflect on the scientific, but above all, broad cultural, legacy his work offers. Bauman focused his research on the themes of social stratification and the labor movement, before moving on to the realm of modernity, defined as "liquid" due to its evidently fluid and unrestrained nature. His studies on the connection between the culture of modernity and totalitarianism, particularly Nazism and the Holocaust , are renowned . His most recent publications focus on the transition from modernity to postmodernity and the complex ethical issues that have given rise to the phenomenon of globalization.
Consumption therefore is: the birth of homo consumens
The title of one of his most famous works representatively summarizes Bauman's vision of consumer habits within today's highly globalized and globalizing social dynamics. For Bauman, globalization "is Inside and outside our homes, we only need to walk down the street to realize this. Conceptually, we can distinguish between global and local spaces, but in reality they are interconnected. Without a doubt, the modern world is experiencing a negative globalization: the breaking down of barriers has led not only to the globalization of capital and the free circulation of goods and information, but also of crime and terrorism. A vision pessimistic That of the sociologist, in which the advantages of a world free of temporal and spatial distances are not adequately balanced by the need to maintain the high level of security that modern man would instead require. This has significant repercussions on human relationships, which have now become extremely ephemeral due to the desire to appear as free as possible from strong and lasting ties, being able to more easily adapt to the widespread fluidity.
Based on these socio-structural premises, Bauman argues that uncertainty and social exclusion stem from the inability to purchase. Social actors who are unable to adapt their consumption to widespread standards therefore feel "cut off" from the carousel of modernity. Purchasing power becomes the yardstick , and this creates individuals increasingly less anchored to precise normative and value horizons, which are instead questioned, rejected, and nullified. Bauman coins the term " liquid modernity " precisely to indicate the lability of any element that takes shape in such a precarious context. Man, from protagonist, becomes consumer and, in an increasingly uncertain manner, delineates his social position, his status, his identity through the mere act of purchasing.
Happiness on a human scale
Zygmunt Bauman's thought has come to the attention of the general public thanks to a clip from the documentary film " The Swedish Theory of Love, " which features the thinker and his idea of happiness . A simple, and perhaps therefore widely shared, idea, according to which happiness is a daily challenge aimed at overcoming adversity, not its absence. It is therefore not a goal but a laborious and incessant construction composed of all those building blocks thanks to which man becomes increasingly capable of overcoming obstacles. In a constantly evolving world, where conveniences and shortcuts abound, man will find full fulfillment by leveraging his own resources, attempting to set goals, and shaping feelings that are increasingly less futile and more in tune with his needs.
For Bauman, happiness, love, and a free and stable society are therefore founded on relationships . Interaction with others, however complex, is essential, as it does not mean dependence but sharing. Independence, often confused with freedom, deprives us of the exchange that is the key to all forms of authentic progress. The themes that Zygmunt Bauman explored with great foresight throughout his life can be for each of us a springboard toward a more critical thinking that aspires to construction rather than destruction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gLfbZQd2Q
Roberta Cricelli
A silent observer with a voluble pen. She believes that to tell the world with a distinctly poetic vein, one must understand its inner workings. She loves her homeland, Calabria, a land of contradictory beauty.
