{"id":410,"date":"2014-01-27T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=410"},"modified":"2014-08-12T23:09:51","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T23:09:51","slug":"zygmunt-bauman-collateral-damage-or-the-forgetting-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/zygmunt-bauman-collateral-damage-or-the-forgetting-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Zygmunt Bauman, Collateral Damage. Or, The Forgetting of the Importance of People"},"content":{"rendered":"

To my recollection, I first encountered Zygmunt Bauman in 1996 through reading Miroslav Volf\u2019s\u00a0Exclusion and Embrace<\/em>. \u00a0As I remember, I appreciated what I was able to encounter of Bauman there. I subsequently came across Bauman more frequently in readings and really appreciated his\u00a0Globalization: The Human Consequences<\/em>.\u00a0 It was some time after he wrote\u00a0Globalization<\/em>\u00a0and as we entered into the new millennium that his discussions about the concept of liquid modernity began to emerge.<\/p>\n

In this text, Bauman takes up the topic of how inequality and collateral damage are dance partners.\u00a0 Particularly, the leader in Bauman\u2019s dance is inequality.\u00a0 Inequality leads to increasing levels of willingness to abide \u201ccollateral damage.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, the opposite can also be suggested to be relevant \u2013 collateral damage can lead to further inequalities, but this is less Bauman\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n

Inequality, to use a popular turn of phrase, \u201cwidens the gap\u201d in almost every sense that a person can imagine.\u00a0 The greater the inequality the greater the tendency for social disconnectedness.\u00a0 As inequalit(y\/ies) increases all of the classic forms that come from unknownness tend to more strongly manifest:\u00a0 fear, hatred, suspicion, violence, verbal barbs, legal barriers, social ostracization, misplaced blame, etc.<\/p>\n

Bauman doesn\u2019t specifically engage this following notion in his text, but I think it\u2019s fair to suggest that it is there implicitly.\u00a0 That is, inequality and difference\/variation are not fully the same.\u00a0 Bauman does argue that the loss of communal stability has both driven us to and been driven away by liquid modernity and this has led to both further difference and inequality, but he is not arguing for their definitional commensurability.\u00a0 Inequality by definition will always suggest difference of one sort or another, but difference does not have to suggest inequality.\u00a0 This is a vital distinction.\u00a0 Thus, one can be significantly different and yet not lose the connectivity that leads to, sustains and furthers healthy communal interchange.\u00a0 But, the more one is significantly unequal \u2013 especially if this includes multiple areas\/manners in which one is significantly unequal \u2013 the greater the likelihood for communal (socio-political [which includes the economic]) disconnect.<\/p>\n

Inequality leading to social disconnectedness and the results that follow from this are what pose the major problem for Bauman.\u00a0 History has shown time and again that loss of recognition of the bonds of communal connectivity between people lead to increased violence in various forms.\u00a0 And this increased violence often showcases itself in language.\u00a0 Bauman argues in this text, that such violent disconnection can be seen for example in the use of the term \u201ccollateral damage.\u201d\u00a0 With this term of \u201ccollateral\u201d present inequalities become starkly exhibited.\u00a0 People become collateral rather than integral, peripheral rather than central, unnecessary rather than necessary, non or undervalued rather than valued, objects rather than subjects, things rather than persons.<\/p>\n

One of the poignant aspects of Bauman\u2019s text is his discussion of the various results of the loss of community for society.\u00a0 In his terms the loss of proper\u00a0oikos<\/em>,\u00a0ecclesia<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0agora<\/em>\u00a0(a healthy parish in more religious parlance) has led to the seeking of greater purpose through monetary transaction as a form of communal connectivity.\u00a0 This is not necessarily bad in and of itself, but pales in comparison to the depth of good that can be experienced and sustained in robust communal settings.\u00a0 The vacuum left by the destabilization of communal ties due to liquid modernity\u2019s allegiance to economic drivers over socio-political stabilizers has led to increased objectifications.<\/p>\n

The main point is not that there is loss of any kind of connection, but that meaningful, subjective connection is lost.\u00a0 Sometimes there is a complete disconnect \u2013 at least on some levels and related to some topics.\u00a0 But more often, there is negative connection begun and\/or continued and increased.\u00a0 People are asked to work longer hours for less pay, more ordering occurs with less choice offered, technical education is promoted over theoretical education (so that one can work in a skilled fashion for someone without asking outside-the-box creative questions for which there might not be good answers), etc.\u00a0 People are viewed less as an intrinsic good for their own being and instead seen according to utilitarian purposes of how they can further the structure of the system.<\/p>\n

A summation offered more simply than does Bauman\u2019s work full justice, but that I believe honors his intentions: Bauman encourages us to see the full humanity of people and not to sacrifice people \u2013 techonologically, economically, socially, or politically \u2014 on the altar of any kind of bureaucracy .<\/p>\n

A very important message in a book well worth a read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To my recollection, I first encountered Zygmunt Bauman in 1996 through reading Miroslav Volf\u2019s\u00a0Exclusion and Embrace. \u00a0As I remember, I appreciated what I was able to encounter of Bauman there. I subsequently came across Bauman more frequently in readings and really appreciated his\u00a0Globalization: The Human Consequences.\u00a0 It was some time after he wrote\u00a0Globalization\u00a0and as we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[63,2],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bauman","tag-dminlgp","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1734,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/1734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}