Em Estranho familiar, os leitores de Zygmunt Bauman encontrarão um viés mais pessoal do homem que mudou nossa maneira de pensar o mundo moderno. E aqueles que acabam de descobrir esse engajado humanista terão em mãos uma síntese magistral de seu imenso legado.
Meses antes de falecer, Zygmunt Bauman recebeu em sua casa o jornalista suíço Peter Haffner para três longas conversas. Desses encontros surgiu este livro, no qual o grande sociólogo discorre sobre temas como história, política, identidade, judaicidade, moral, felicidade e amor. Bauman descreve sua infância, o serviço militar no Exército Vermelho, a participação na Segunda Guerra Mundial e a expulsão da Polônia em 1968, oferecendo relatos íntimos de eventos históricos aos quais consagra suas finas percepções sociais e políticas. Ele fala sobre a perspectiva da morte com a propriedade de quem enfrentou na pele, como judeu polonês, a sociedade desregulada, fragmentada e individualizada da modernidade líquida, da qual se tornou teórico. Comenta os autores que desempenharam papel principal em seu pensamento, como Antonio Gramsci e Emmanuel Levinas. E destaca a importância da sociologia – uma ciência cujo significado, em sua visão, é tornar o familiar estranho e o estranho familiar.
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”.
Ostatnio Bauman zaczął do mnie bardzo silnie trafiać, szczególnie po uświadomieniu sobie, że jego sarkastyczny ton i wydawałoby się, że całkowicie pesymistyczne przemyślenia, tak naprawdę są słowami wypowiedzianymi przez człowieka pełnego nadziei.
Dużo ważnych spraw się w tej książce porusza, trochę skacząc po ogólnikach, ale jednak, koniec końców, docierając do esencji.
„Na tym opiera się istnienie socjologii jako nauki. [...] Okoliczności zostały stworzone, ale ich nie wybraliśmy. Pytanie brzmi: Jak powstały i do czego nas zmuszają, jak obchodzimy się z nimi i jak możemy je zmienić. Jak tworzymy świadomie, ale pod presją aktualnie panujących warunków życia i wiedząc o nich, historię? To tajemnica naszego istnienia.”
I read the interview with Bauman during commute, thanks to this book, the 30-min on the London underground felt better as it gave me a moment to disconnet with my work routine and think about some broader questions. The book is small but covers a wide range of topics, including some most heated conflicts in the world, Bauman was pessmistic yet still passionately engaged in global affairs, very inspiring and enligtening. When reading this book, I felt a sense of relief when someone tells me that feeling insecure and powerless is common as we're obliged to 'find individual solutions to global/systematic problems', and consequently I became more patient to find that 'solution'. Added some Bauman's work to my reading list : )
Za Zygmunta Baumana dałabym 5/5. Nie wiem, czy to kwestia tlumaczenia, ale Peter Haffner i jego pytania to 1/5.
Były nieprofesjonalne, pozbawione kultury, a często po prostu głupie. Brzmiało trochę jakby na siłę próbował udowodnić Baumanowi swoja inteligencję popisujac sie, że przeczytał wszystko o czym legendarny socjolog wspomniał. Po czym rzucał ostrymi pytaniami bez żadnego szacunku do Baumana jakby chciał wymusić odpowiedzi, żeby ludzie się zachwycali ksiażka.
Polecam teksty Baumana, z którym można dowiedzieć się na temat jego analizy współczesności bez denerwujacych pseudomyślicieli starajacych się zabłysnac czyimś kosztem. Tej ksiażki nie polecam.
What familiar problem has become unfamiliar in Bowman's speech? 1. Do not evaluate preceding choices with subsequent information. This will turn the fluid into the rigid, the accidental into the inevitable. Under this erroneous attribution, we will pay the price. 2. In the advanced stage of creation, the most important thing is not shaping, but cutting. It's like the advice Michelangelo gave to his apprentices, you just need to chisel away the excess marble. 3. Although consumerist society claims that satisfying consumers is its goal, in fact, satisfied consumers are its biggest threat, because it will only continue to thrive if its members are not satisfied.