Consuming Life [2]

Sophia Parker has posted about Zygmunt Bauman Bauman caught my attention recently

As a recap - Sophia writes

His basic argument is that we have moved from a producer society to a consumer society (where we are defined by our shopping basket rather than by our work) - what he calls ‘liquid modernity’. As part of this transition, we not only become consumers, but also necessarily commodities ourselves: constantly marketing who we are in the quest to be seen, as ‘invisibility is tantamount to death’ (here he quotes Germaine Greer). He believes we are in the grip of a subjectivity fetishism.

But these are the interesting bits

I was really struck by a number of the consequences he outlines of this view of the world. First, a consumer society is not defined by what it buys, but instead by what it wastes

Second, he writes at length about the commodification of intimate life - Our relationships become as dispensable as the things we buy - and this pattern is reinforced by the way we find our friends now (online dating etc etc)

Third, he kicks back against the internet, and all those who herald it as the dawn of a new era of connectedness, instead seeing it as a force that drives us towards this commodification of the ‘Other’

The last one worries me as I see that connectedness - can be a powerful force for good. Take the view that Connectivity unleashes productivity Which looked at the economic success of GrameenPhone in Bangladesh

One study concluded that the total lifetime cost of an additional phone (including the cell tower and switching gear) was about $2,000, but that each phone enabled $50,000 of increased productivity. And surprisingly, the poorer the country to begin with, the greater the increase in wealth from connectivity.

Sophia picks up on how Liquid Modernity affect Time and Meaning.

Whereas before meaning was derived by progression through life, Bauman believes we are now operating in ‘pointillist’ time, where each of us have to create meaning out of the many choices we make everyday. Melancholy, in these terms, is being overwhelmed by the possibilities of all this choice, to the point of withdrawing from the act of choosing

And this has a significant implications on our sense of self and our identities

Bauman should force us to pause for thought. And I thank Sophia, for so clearly illuminating Bauman's thinking.

Comments

[Ivor Crotty]

Tomi,

I came across your work through my discovery of Xtract in Barca and my determined pursual of a partnership with them. I'm an Irish, sociologically trained, communications head for Gigafone, a Moscow based mobile marketing solutions provider who are very busy in Asia and the EU - and in this respect I wanted to comment on Bauman (& his mentor Jurgen Habermas et al). I'm writing a short speech for our VP Asia where he'll address Mobile Social Networking at ITU Asia, with a focus on Asian variants of same - and this is where it gets interesting or at least where potentially interesting answers can be generated.

Basically, Bauman and Habermas worked within the parameters of continental philosophy: children of the enlightenment, thus. What Bauman refers to as the fetishisation of the self is derived from the ideas of the frankfurt school of sociologists (Theodore Adorno, Georg Lukacs) who escaped facism but were horrified by hollywood (see the marvellously conspiratorial "Century of the Self" series for more, suffice to say its all Freud's fault!).

Habermas, in discussing the relationship between traditional societies and modernity's inevtiable colonisation of traditional space referred to modernity's ability to "hollow out the lifeworld" using legal bureaucracy (1st half of 20th century - facist and communist projects) and media technology(2nd half of 20th century).

The point is that these guys saw the relationship between tradition (which Joyce saw as a medium, by the way) and modernity, as some kind of zero sum game, where tradition loses rather than adapts, where tradition is de-purified rather than hybridised adn reinvigorated, perhaps belying their world views (they were soft-liberals, neo-marxists perhaps).

My impression is that in Asia, technology is not considered such, it does not hollow-out nor alienate; that proliferated communication technologies are regarded more opportunistically and creatively by young people who seem to lack the inhibitions one more readily associates with the anglo-saxon world. The mobile, to kids, is an opportunity for fantasy and creativity whereas in the anglo saxon world we have Disney adn the BarbieGirls "controversy".... Now, Bauman certainly had a point, and I think you've touched on a potentially rich seam of thinkers by acknowledging his contribution, but do you think my point is valid here?

I haven't read "neo-confucian cyberkids" yet, but i hope to find a body of thought that helps me work this one through. For me its rooted in cultures of learning, play, creativity, trust, social heirarchies even.

Any thoughts?

Kind regards

Ivor Crotty

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