Throughout the career of the renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, who passed away on January 9, 2017, a strand of the utopian impulse continued to manifest itself in his work. From his early socialist orientation to his later, more humanistic expressions and his analysis and critique of the liquid modern society, a development poignantly described by Michael Jacobsen in an article in this journal in 2004,1 Bauman's sociology was driven by seeking possibilities and alternatives to the society that he described and (...) explained, a quest for hope in the long term in a situation that justified pessimism in the short and middle term. His utopianism was not an attempt to sketch a blueprint of another society but an impulse... (shrink)

En esta obra, Bauman analiza diferentes tendencias de vuelta a etapas pasadas que observa en la sociedad actual, y que, a su juicio, suponen un retroceso en el progreso social. Sin embargo, y conceptualizando la retrotopía como una negación de la negación de la utopía, no analiza las mismas como si estas fuesen irreversibles. De este modo, el objetivo de un mundo mejor continúa siendo algo realizable, aunque las adversidades para conseguir esta meta sean numerosas y difíciles, y muchas (...) de las aspiraciones o utopías hayan sido no solamente paralizadas, sino que muestran una regresión. Así, desde un punto de vista crítico, y con un tono de denuncia respecto a algunas acciones del poder, el autor analiza los factores que han llevado a la humanidad a la situación actual, así como el camino para revertir los pasos atrás que se han producido. Asimismo, destaca como en este mundo globalizado, sin embargo, todavía no se ha constituido una conciencia cosmopolita. Finalmente, Bauman muestra sus dudas respecto a las posibilidades de consecución de una humanidad cosmopolitamente integrada, aunque da a entender que esta meta debe conseguirse para poder asegurar el futuro de los seres humanos, y ve la cultura del diálogo como un factor imprescindible para lograr la integración a nivel global. (shrink)

Zygmunt Bauman e Richard Rorty, dois luminares contemporâneos do pensamento político, cada um a seu modo, descrevem a sociedade, fazem diagnósticos e apontam caminhos. Ambos estão preocupados com aspectos relevantes da vida social, como a sensibilidade moral, a inclusão, a solidariedade, a democracia e a justiça. Seus caminhos se distanciam e se cruzam ao longo de suas carreiras. Utilizam taxonomias diferentes, como contingência e liquidez, para descrever, muitas vezes, fenômenos semelhantes e construir argumentos completares. Este texto não pretende esmiuçar o (...) pensamento do sociólogo polonês nem do filósofo estadunidense, esgotando os conceitos fundamentais de cada um, mas tão somente fazer um recorte de aspectos relevantes no diálogo que entre eles se estabelece. Por último, as retóricas de Bauman e Rorty são encaradas como ferramentas disponíveis – e sobremaneira eficientes – na observação das sociedades atuais e no vislumbre daquelas que podemos construir para o futuro. (shrink)

This review discusses Zygmunt Bauman’s Retrotopia, published shortly after the renowned sociologist’s death, in the light of his engagement with the thought of Pope Francis during the last years of his life. It traces some of the main themes of this engagement, and addresses its role and importance in the context of the book as well as in the aims of Bauman’s sociology as a whole. As the insecurities and anxieties of liquid modernity in our increasingly violent world lead many (...) to give up on the effort of building a better future and turn towards the ‘retrotopia’ of an ideal past, a crucial sign of hope is found in the words of Pope Francis. In his efforts as a sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman seeks to redirect our gaze to the future and to engage in dialogue, understood as the art of living together. (shrink)

This article examines the evolution of Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of culture during his over-sixty-year-long scholarly activity. Bauman wrote his first books on the theory of culture (Culture and Society; Sketches in the Theory of Culture) when he was a Professor at Warsaw University. The ideas put forward at that time were later developed in his writings. This applies in particular to the critical nature of his thought, the combination of synchronic and diachronic perspectives, the inclusion of the context of the (...) social structure as well as his references to the structural dimension and to agency. Later years – starting with the publication of the book, Culture as Praxis – saw Bauman’s growing emphasis on the transcendence of the existing reality and the creative role of an individual in the transformation of cultural reality. This article shows how other theorists of culture inspired Bauman and how he critically referred to them. The article offers a holistic look at Zygmunt Bauman’s oeuvre. It also creates an opportunity for English-speaking readers to become familiar with Bauman’s writings in his mother tongue. (shrink)

. The purpose of this article is to analyze the specifics of the mythologizing of time in the historical period dramas "Downton Abbey" and "The Crown" in the context of the transition from the postmodern paradigm to a new metamodern sensibility. The article summarizes the experience of domestic and foreign studies of the metamodern tendencies of the modern TV series and analyzes the theoretical issues of the mythological temporality of TV series production. On the basis of the theoretical concept of (...) retrotopia by Z. Bauman, the concept of layers of cinematic temporality by N.E. Marievskaya and the critical discourse analysis of S. Jäger, the features of the mythologization of horizontal, vertical time, as well as the biographical time of characters in selected period dramas have been analyzed. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the problematization and analysis of the discursive environment of the deployment of the temporal mythology of the modern period drama. The modern historical period drama demonstrates the specifics of turning to retrotopia, as it seeks to represent the current problems of the present through an imaginary past. In the case of the “Downton Abbey”, this happens through the harmonization in the viewer's mind of nostalgia for an imaginary English aristocratic past and an unstable future. In the case of the “The Crown”, the presentation of the private life of the British royal family against the backdrop of historical events contributes to the formation of a more multidimensional image of the present and responds to the demands of the mass audience in the emotional representation of historical events. The result of this representation is a kind of mythology of time, which arises between the cultural demand for retrotopia and the development of modern technologies for the production of cinematographic products, which makes it possible to fully realize the intention of modern metamodernist discourse to achieve a “new sensibility”. This allows us to consider the modern historical period drama not only as a "commercial project", but also as a tool for the development of historical culture, an instrument of cultural orientation in social space and time. (shrink)

Examinamos el marco de congruencia teórica del cambio de la fase sólida a la fase líquida de la modernidad sirviéndonos de una revisión de La rebelión de las masas interpretada desde el ilimitado entorno de relaciones comunicativas en la red. En su póstuma Retrotopía, Bauman propone la noción de vecindario indefinido como categoría explicativa de la aceleración en la red de las tendencias consumistas que caracterizaron el individualismo de la cultura de masas, estableciendo además una pauta de continuidad en (...) la reaparición de asociaciones tribales en el vecindario indefinido. Abordamos hermenéuticamente la interrelación entre vecindario indefinido y rebelión de masas. Si la apertura de la red a la comunicación cara a cara virtual exacerba las pautas consumistas y tribales del consumismo de la fase sólida, la rebelión orteguiana puede entenderse como fruto exacerbado del individualismo que nutre la propensión consumista del vecindario indefinido globalizado. (shrink)

O texto consiste em uma resenha da obra Retrotopia, de Zygmunt Bauman, publicada pela Editora Zahar em 2017. A obra percorre os labirintos da história da utopia e chega a retrotopia, cujo surgimento se dá devido ao divórcio, cada vez mais acentuado, entre poder e política, e o desencanto com ideias, ideais e promessas de futuro. [...]. O autor Zygmunt Bauman, sociólogo e filósofo polonês, tornou-se um dos mais importantes analistas de temas hodiernos, dedicando sua vida ao estudo da condição (...) humana. Sua formação e trajetória docente na Universidade de Varsóvia e na Universidade de Leeds, bem como sua vasta produção acadêmica, colocam-no na vanguarda dos intelectuais contemporâneos e caracterizam-no como um dos grandes pensadores da contemporaneidade. Se para alguns ele é o conhecedor perspicaz, para outros é um ingênuo pessimista. Contudo, sua produção acadêmica possui ampla aceitação no campo das ciências sociais, nas ciências da educação, sobretudo nos estudos norteados pela perspectiva pós-estruturalista. A partir de um diálogo com a “Utopia” de Thomas More, o autor tece seus argumentos na interlocução com diversos pensadores e com as diferentes situações cotidianas noticiadas nos principais jornais do mundo. Ele sistematiza conceitos, pressupostos, posicionamentos e críticas em uma obra densa, disposta em seis seções: a introdução, denominada de “A era da nostalgia”; o primeiro capítulo “De volta a Hobbes?”; seguido por “De volta às tribos”; “De volta à desigualdade”; “De volta ao útero”; e um epílogo, intitulado “olhando adiante, para variar”. Essas seções constituem uma espécie de inventário, que articula sentimentos e práticas retrotopianos, materializados no Lebenswelt dos sujeitos imersos na moderna sociedade líquida. [...]. Essa epidemia global de nostalgia de que fala o autor, em vez de consolidar o futuro como ethos de esperanças e expectativas, torna-o um invólucro de medo e pesadelos. É desse cenário complexo que emerge a retrotopia como um “novo” ciclo da história da utopia, substituindo o vigor do tempo incerto que está por vir, por tentativas conscientes de iteração com aspectos bem-sucedidos do passado, projetando-os como futuro, na fantasia de harmonizar segurança com liberdade. Embora não se trate de “retorno direto a um modo de vida antes praticado”, a suposta estabilidade, o pseudorresguardo no que passou, e a ilusória faculdade de controlar o que pode acontecer, causam um distanciamento entre poder e política, destituindo a soberania do Estado e das agências capazes de regular/prover a vida social. Ao denotar que os sujeitos contemporâneos duvidam da capacidade do Estado, e de qualquer instituição, de levar as coisas a cabo e de escolher entre aquelas que devem ser feitas, o autor revela o desmonte do coletivo como uma instância política de poder e a redução da vida social à capacidade de consumir, exacerbando o âmbito pessoal como responsável pela busca das melhorias de vida. [...]. (shrink)

With Ukraine as its subtext, this pamphlet-like text considers the recent U-turns of global reality and the need for well-meant universalist (pamphilic) ends. Such ends impel reconsideration of the standard educational-philosophical view on national affect, state sovereignty and international relations. After indicating interconnections of these issues with ecological and nuclear catastrophe, I discuss the argument that post-humanist educational theory has failed to critique the full and inherent educational complicities in the current global situation. While I agree with such diagnostics, I (...) argue that, instead of essentializing educational complicities, we may explore education as open to catastrophe in its double meaning of ‘disaster’ and ‘radical turn’. (shrink)

This paper is a response to Jan Masschelein’s keynote lecture. Taking its point of departure in a befriended support of his argument, the paper begins in the mood of affirmation as a form of critique. Thereafter it engages, first, with what it reads as a slightly retrotopian approach to digitalization in the paper. Second, it brings to attention that the gesture of rejuvenation and regeneration, which Masschelein suggests, always involves a moment of return or repetition. The question is asked what (...) form the gesture of retrieving inherited pedagogical forms from the past takes in Masschelein’s proposal, and it is suggested that such retrieving is a work of constant translation. Third, a comment is made about the advocating of orature, issuing the reminder that on-campus education usually comes without noise reduction, that is, it requires reflection also on the discord that is calibrated in and through our voices. (shrink)

Ortega said: “the reabsorption of circumstance is the concrete destiny of man”. But, what happens when this living environment is perceived so hostile that makes a project of life impracticable? In this article, we will reflect on possible responses to such a circumstance; where we seek refuge and find shelter to continue believing in the possibility of our project of life. Among other options, the current subject seems tender to look for it in the past, in the nostalgic look to (...) the memories and the tradition. But this doesn’t happen without risks. This past, idealized, when it’s intended to be affirmed, must be confronted with that circumstance, and the resulting shock gives expression to many of the current social conflicts. (shrink)