Bøger af Zygmunt Bauman

In this major work, Zygmunt Bauman classifies the meanings of culture. For Bauman, culture is a living, changing aspect of human interaction which must be understood and studied as a universal of human life. At the heart of his approach is the proposition that culture is inherently ambivalent.

We are spurred into action by our troubles and fears; but all too often our action fails to address the true causes of our worries. When trying to make sense of our lives, we tend to blame our own failings and weaknesses for our discomforts and defeats. And in doing so, we make things worse rather than better.

The production of 'human waste' - or more precisely, wasted lives, the 'superfluous' populations of migrants, refugees and other outcasts - is an inevitable outcome of modernization. It is an unavoidable side-effect of economic progress and the quest for order which is characteristic of modernity.

* Another highly topical contribution from a world--renowned social thinker. * Examines the European experience against the backdrop of a fast--changing, and divided, world arguing that by sharing its historical lessons, Europe can play a role in the promotion of world peace.

From the streets of Seattle to corporate boardrooms to new factories in third-world nations, globalization is subject to very different and often explosively divergent interpretations. Where some see globalization as driving poor countries into further poverty, others see it as the path to economic salvation and democratic rule. With original contributions from ten eminent economists, Globalization: What's New cuts through the confusion and rhetoric to offer straightforward, incisive analysis of globalization and its future.Coming from some of globalization's most prominent supporters (David Dollar), its most vocal critics (Joseph Stiglitz), and those in-between, this collection presents diverse and original perspectives on globalization's immense reach that dig to the core of many debates. The contributors analyze recent trends in trade, immigration, and capital flows; why some poor countries have grown while others have stagnated during the past two decades; future opportunities for low-wage workers; globalization's impact on jobs and wages in poor countries and in the United States; the surprising environmental benefits of globalization; the degree to which foreign aid helps developing countries; the failures of international institutions in governing the global economy and supporting democracy; and how foreign loans and investments can wreak havoc on a nation's economy.

Freedom is a concept central to many of the social sciences. This book explores the social production of 'free agents', and the intimate connection between this process and the issues of systemic integration and social control.

Den polsk-britiske sociolog og samfundsdebattør Zygmunt Baumans seneste bog handler om de mange arbejdsløse, fattige, flygtninge, sindslidende, stofmisbrugere og andre ”forspildte liv” i den flydende modernitet. Moderniteten har bredt sig overalt og producerer stadig større mængder af mennesker, der er berøvet deres eksistensgrundlag, men ikke har noget sted at flygte hen. De samfundsøkonomisk overflødige, der fylder op i flygtningelejre, ghettoer, hjemløseherberger og arbejdsløshedskøerne er uvelkomne overalt og mødes med mistænkeliggørelse og foragt. Frygten for fysiske overgreb eller social smitte fra disse ”forspildte liv” blander sig med angsten for selv en dag at havne i sumpen. Baumans analyse, der fortsætter, hvor []Flydende kærlighed[] slap, er pessimistisk, men præcis, og understreger endnu engang hans status som én af vor tids skarpeste og mest kompromisløse fortalere for de svage i en verden, der i stigende grad dyrker vinderne og lader taberne i stikken. Zygmunt Bauman er en af vor tids kendteste sociologer og en flittig gæst i Danmark. På Hans Reitzels Forlag er tidligere udkommet ]Modernitet og Holocaust (1994), Globalisering (1999), ]Arbejde, forbrugerisme og de nye fattige (2002), ]Fællesskab (2002), ]Frihed (2003), Det belejrede samfund (2004), Flydende kærlighed (2004) og Flydende modernitet (2006). Bogen er oversat fra engelsk efter Wasted Lives af Tom Havemann.

I de gode gamle dage var Rockefeller optaget af at eje stadig flere boreplatforme, bygninger, maskiner og jernbaner. I dag har den nye kapitalismes ikon, Bill Gates, gjort det til et succes-parameter, at nye produkter forsvinder lige så hurtigt som de lanceres for straks at blive afløst af noget lige så flygtigt. I Flydende modernitet viser Bauman sig endnu en gang som en blændende essayist med et sikkert blik for tidens paradokser og forskydninger – og for den usikkerhed som fraværet af normer skaber blandt samfundets svageste, der med god grund frygter at synke til bunds i udviklingens rivende strøm. Zygmunt Bauman var professor ved Warszawas Universitet indtil 1968, hvor han som følge af antisemitisk pres måtte forlade Polen. Efter tre år i Israel, slog han sig i 1971 ned i England som professor i sociologi ved universitetet i Leeds. Bauman – der er en flittig gæst i Danmark – er forfatter til en lang række bøger, hvoraf mange er udkommet på dansk. Bogen er oversat fra engelsk efter Liquid Modernity af Tom Havemann.

Bauman urges us to think in new ways about a newly flexible, newly challenging modern world. In an era of routine travel, where most people circulate widely, the inherited beliefs that aid our thinking about the world have become an obstacle. He challenges members of the "knowledge class" to overcome their estrangement from the rest of society.

It is one thing to be poor in a society of producers and universal employment; it is quite a different thing to be poor in a society of consumers. This book considers how effective different ways of fighting poverty and relieving its hardships are. It features discussion of work on redundancy, disposability and exclusion.