Practices of Selfhood

by Zygmunt Bauman, Rein Raud

Contemporary understanding of human subjectivity has come a long way since the Cartesian 'thinking thing' or Freud's view of the self struggling with its unconscious. We no longer think of ourselves as stable and indivisible units or combinations thereof - instead, we see the self as constantly reinvented and reorganised in interaction with others and with its social and cultural environments. But the world in which we live today is one of uncertainty where nothing can be taken for granted. Coping with change is a challenge but it also presents new opportunities.

Uncertainty can be both liberating and oppressive. How does an individual understand her or his position in the world? Are we as human beings determined by our genetic heritage, social circumstances and cultural preferences, or are we free in our choices? How does selfhood emerge? Does it follow the same pattern of development in all people, all cultures, all ages? Or is it a socio-cultural construction that cannot be understood outside its historical context? Are the patterns of selfhood fundamentally changing in the present world? Does new technology allow us more autonomy or does it tempt us to give up the freedoms we have?

These are the questions that Zygmunt Bauman and Rein Raud explore in their engaging and wide-ranging dialogue, combining their competences in sociology, philosophy and cultural theory to look at how selfhood is produced in social practice, through language, efforts of self-presentation and self-realisation as well as interaction with others. An indispensable text for understanding the complexities of selfhood in our contemporary liquid-modern world.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Nonfiction, Social

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2015

About the author

Zygmunt Bauman was a world-renowned Polish sociologist and philosopher, and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds. He was one of the world's most eminent social theorists, writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity and one of the creators of the concept of “postmodernism”.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I have to say at the start of this is that it isn’t going to be a systematic review of the content of this book. The book is short and packed with information – just read it. It is in a genre of Bauman’s books that I really quite like, a kind of structured conversation between him and someone else who generally appears to be equally smart, although, to be honest, no such literal conversations are likely to have ever happened – the joy of books, aye? All the same, these are much more like a dialogue than any of the Socratic dialogues of Plato – Bauman’s interlocutor gets to say much more than just ‘that follows’ or ‘yes, necessarily’. And there’s never a sense of great disagreement between the people in the dialogue either – not that I’m totally opposed to great disagreement in itself, it is just that far too often it is overwrought and, as that wonderful cliché would have it, shed more heat than light.

I want to quote something that Rein Raud says on page 43,

“For quite some time, those who want to ‘differ’ have had to buy their gear in a chain store. Individuality has, to a significant extent, become a matter of choice between brands. Interesting choice of term, brand – a contemporary version of the brand marks on cattle to differentiate the livestock of one owner from that of another. Now worn with pride and at considerable expense. And making the wearers ‘readable’ to their peers.”

I find this particularly interesting at the moment because I’m re-reading Goffman’s ‘Stigma’ and he talks there about how some people, rather than seeking to pass as a ‘normal’ and then spend all of their time dealing with a potentially discreditable identity, wear some badge of their ‘kind’ and then have only to deal with the discomfort of having a discredited identity, rather than the fear of losing a discreditable one. That is, they brand themselves.

Now, this is interesting in that prior to Jesus being associated with stigmata, the Greek word referred to marks that were inflicted upon people so as to identify them as belonging to a particular class of damaged persons – slaves, say. That is, not unlike cattle, they were branded, although, not necessarily to show how they stood in regard to ownership rights, but rather a badge of the identity category they belonged too.

It is interesting that we are still so keen to stress our belonging to various groups and, as Bauman makes clear elsewhere, that these are identities that have become literally commodities, that is, identities we purchase when we decide we are a PC, rather than a Mac, or a Volvo, rather than a Ford.

Yesterday, as I was driving home, the car in front of me had one of those fish with feet and in the body of the fish was the word ‘Evolve’. It’s a strange thing. The first time I saw one of these I thought it was terribly funny. Now, I just think of it as pointlessly nasty. I much preferred the previous version with ‘Darwin’ written in the middle, but with the word evolve the implication is that Christians are less evolved than atheists – and I feel infinitely uncomfortable as soon as someone does something to make their enemy less than human. That is how all genocides begin.

All the same, like Marx, I find atheism an unsatisfying belief system if one ends there. By definition it is negative – the hint is in the name – and, for Marx at least, the point wasn’t to just destroy the mythical paradise in the sky, but to turn our focus to building an actual paradise here on earth.

This book is a chance to listen in on something like a conversation between two very intelligent and interesting people. And for that it is well worth the read. But I think if you are interested in the topic of the relationship between the self and society, there are probably other books you might want to go to first. I think, of Bauman’s, I would probably recommend starting with something like Consuming Life – not least since that’s where I started. You probably don’t need to read as many of his books as I’ve done, but that one and just about any of his others that have ‘liquid’ in the title ought to be nearly enough on this topic, anyway.

Goffman rates a mention a couple of times in this book too. Which is odd in many ways, not just because he did much of his work in the 1950s and 60s, and it is rare for someone who worked so long ago to rate a mention today, but also because I’ve been turning back to him recently too. It is odd how things happen like that.

One of the reasons why I’ve been thinking about Goffman lately is because his idea of symbolic interactionism stresses how situated these interactions are – and while he sees these interactions as little dramas, I don’t think I’ve ever really paid nearly enough attention to the props used in these theatres where these interactions take place – or how these props might be manipulated to hide or to reinforce identities – which is, of course, back to the notion of branding again. A book I read recently by Gilovich (The Wisest One in the Room) retells the story of an experiment where people who watch a sitcom with a pencil held between their teeth find the show much funnier than people who do not. This is because the pencil has already shaped their mouths into smiles and this physical condition produces a positive feedback loop increasing their likelihood to be amused. Branding makes me wonder what else we become more likely to do when we are thus branded. An interesting thing to think about here is Ariely’s book The Honest Truth about Dishonesty. In that he says wearing fake branded expensive sunglasses (you know, cheap rip-off copies) can encourage us to act dishonestly in other ways too – as if the deception of the sunglasses brands us to ourselves as someone who deceives in our own minds. Like I said, we are little aware of the impact the props of our performances can have on those performances. I can’t help feeling that our sense of self is a kind of fiction that we compose and are in turn composed by, a fiction we find nearly impossible to not believe even as we construct it from the convenient detritus of our lives.

[Irmak Zileli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benliğin inşası, pratikteki yansımaları; toplumla, kültürle ve ekonomi politikle olan bağı üzerine, güncel teknolojik gelişmelerin benliğin dışavurumuna ve oluşumuna etkilerini de içeren bir bakışla değerlendirildiği bu tartışma benim için ufuk açıcıydı. Bauman zaten pek sevdiğimiz bir felsefeci. Bu kitap sayesinde Rein Raud’la da tanıştığım için mutluyum. #okudumbitti #okumaönerisi #bookstagram #kitapönerisi #books #booklover #bookstagramturkey

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

O título desse livro em português, A Individualidade Numa Época De Incertezas, não faz jus ao conteúdo do mesmo, cujo título original tem a ver com self e selves. Embora eu tenha gistado muito dos outros livros do Bauman que li anteriormente, deste eu gostei muito pouco. Se trata de uma compilação de conversas por e-mail do sociológo polonês com o estioso estonio, Riad Raud. Enquanto percebemos que Riad Raud está mais consciente das miríades que rodeiam o mundo moderno, a informática e a comunicação em redes, mas Zygmunt Bauman possui a sabedoria e a profundidade necessária para um livro desses. Entretanto, esse livro não me ajudou muito nas minhas pesquisas. Uma pena mesmo.

[Eylül T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benlik olgusunun oluşumu aşamasında etken olan kavramların üzerinde durarak, siyasetten, teknolojiye bir çok alanda konuşan iki kişinin keyifli sohbetine eşlik etmek isterseniz okuyun

[Alya AlShaibani · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aukščiausią vertinimą daviau dėl keliamų klausimų aktualumo, bei bandymo analizuoti juos iš skirtingų pozicijų, nors rašymo stilius kartais ir suveltas pasirodė.

[Melike · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ben varsam o da var, ben yoksam o da yok." evet ama sen olduğunda, olduğun sandığın kişi 'onlar' tarafından işlenmiş ise?

"İnsan yaşamı kişinin ölümlülük farkındalığı ile yaşamasını katlanılabilir ve yaşanabilir kılma çabasıdır."
Öncelikle, felsefik bir şekilde yaşama odaklanıyor. Sayborg olmak ve yaşam süresinin uzatılmasında tamamız, peki ölümsüzlük?

Sonra dil üzerinden benliğin oluşumunda iç ve dış benlik, iç dünya ve iç benlik arasındaki farka zaman çizgisinde dikkat çekiyor. Bu kısmı en iyi özetleyecek örnek ise renkli fişler deneyi ve müziğin yarattığı etki olduğunu düşünüyorum. Dilin en başarılı olduğu yerin; kullanan kişilerin arasındaki deneyimin fazlalığı olması ise benim en çok dikkatimi çeken nokta oldu.

Performansımız, eylemlerimiz... Yani daha çok dışarıdaki ben. Papanın uygunsuz sözler söylemesi hoş kaçmaz değil mi?

Benliğin Kendini Gerçekleştirmesi, işte bu kısım biraz daha karışık ve bir o kadar anlaşılabilir. Artık gerçekten kendimizi gerçekleştirebilir miyiz? Mutluluktan bahsettikleri kısım için Maymun ve Öz kitabından bir alıntı yapmak istiyorum bu kısımda, "ve sonunda, istediğini elde ettiğin şey asla zannettiğin gibi olmaz."

Can alıcı bir soru: "Yaşayabileceğinden daha azı için çalıştığın zaman nasıl idare edebilirsin?"

"... hepsi sisteme entegre edilmiş durumda... kararların sayesinde seni özel kılan mekanlar şimdi birer yaşam tarzı seçeneğine çevrilmiş durumda."

Bunlar benim dikkatimi çeken şeylerden birkaçı. Kitabın ilerisinde üretim-tüketim toplumu ve internet dünyasından yerler de bulacaksınız. Kısaca, okunmasını kesinlikle tavsiye ediyorum.

[Jo Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes the form of email conversations between Zygmunt Bauman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Rein Raud, Professor of Japanese Studies. It takes as its theme the construction of self in today's world, and is fascinating. The complexity of the arguments and the authors' writing styles are academic which meant lots of big words and foreign language phrases that I kept having to look up, and a lot of citation of other academics and writers use to illustrate or counterpoint. At times I felt the authors could have been clearer, written in shorter sentences without subclauses embedded on clauses. Hard work but of great relevance.