2023-09-07 07:05:00
The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, of Polish origin, lucidly denounced individualism and inequality. He represents one of the most critical voices of modernity, in which the nation-state, democracy, the family, employment, commitment to the community… are temporary, ‘valid until further notice’.
Zygmunt Bauman is a recognized intellectual authority in the world. He lived the horrors of war, persecution, purges and exile, and was never a conformist. He sharply portrayed the capitalist system, and fought against the superficiality of public debate, characterized by the bewilderment of citizens in the face of a world that is ‘liquefying’, that is diluted by the avalanche of the liberal bubble, and the appearance of new scenarios and protagonists focused on the protest rather than the proposal.
Respected by the indignant movements, at the dawn of the 21st century, Bauman distrusted ‘armchair activism’, which wanted to change the world with a click. He had previously achieved recognized authority with the book ‘Liquid Modernity’ (2000).
In his opinion, an issue that should concern humanity is the rejection of others and the fear of those who are different. And he recalled on more than one occasion that ‘social networks are a trap.’ He coined the expression ‘precariat’, in opposition to the ‘proletariat’ – which according to Bauman no longer exists. The ‘precariat’ would be a very radical social class, the only one that wants to be strong enough to abolish itself. The term ‘precariat’ has been coined to refer to what is considered a new global social class in the making, which is expanding as a result of growing economic globalization and which has taken place around the world since the mid-1970s.
We must note, in this context, the growing complexity of the processes we live through. The influence of information technologies and communication systems are so impactful and subtle that they have ‘dissolved’ the once immovable frames of reference – such as democracy and the state structure -, the result of which is none other than uncertainty, of the hand of social networks that have entangled and liquefied everything.
#Social #networks #trap