Abstract
The chapter deals with the social determination of evil through the systems of instrumental rationality Bauman identitifies as the essence of modernity. The chapter examines the mutations of instrumental reason that Bauman develops in his later work, from Modernity and the Holocaust through to his account of liquid modernity. The essence of the argument is that: (1) Bauman's version of Weber's disenchantment thesis completely destroys the possibilty ethical obligation and political action (2) the 'cultural turn' of late-Marxism (Derrida, Jameson, Harvey etc) offers the possibilty of re-inscribing the trace of a counter-hegemonic politics.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Liquid Sociology |
Subtitle of host publication | Metaphor in Bauman's Writings on Modernity |
Editors | Michael Davis |
Place of Publication | Aldershot |
Publisher | Ashgate |
Number of pages | 22 |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - 28 Feb 2013 |
Keywords
- Bauman, Liquid Modernity, Evil, Ethics