The Emerald Guide to Zygmunt Bauman by Shaun Best

Author:Shaun Best [Best, Shaun]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, Social Theory, General, Philosophy, Social
ISBN: 9781839097386
Google: W50LEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Published: 2020-09-17T05:16:49+00:00

LIQUID MODERN INEQUALITY

In his book Does the Richness of the Few Benefit Us All published in 2013, Bauman questions the argument that inequality can be justified because people at the top of the class system contribute more to the economy because of their role in the process of job creation. The book opens with a detailed account of the extent of global inequality and greater potential risks that people face of degradation and falling into the ranks of the precariat. Bauman argues that global inequality is growing and he suggests that figures support the argument that the rich are getting richer and the poor, particularly the very poor, are getting poorer. Even in affluent countries inequalities are becoming more pronounced, and as a consequence, the rich separate themselves from the rest of the society, by choosing to exclude themselves into ‘gated communities’ and not engaging with public services. Liquid modernity presents a picture of two worlds, in which the rich and the poor have few, if any, opportunities to come into contact with each other. This lack of contact means that the rich and the poor come to view each other through stereotypes rather than human contact.

Drawing upon Daniel Dorling’s research, Bauman argues that belief in inequality is based upon three overlapping widely accepted ‘tenets of injustice’: first that elitism is efficient as inequality promotes and rewards abilities. Second, social exclusion is normal, natural and necessary as the fulfilment of greed allows people to feel fulfilled. The despair of feeling that one has underachieved is inevitable and cannot be avoided. Deregulation of the labour markets has generated deepening inequality that has made some groups in the population not only economically poorer and their lives increasingly precarious but has generated acute spiritual discomfort and chronic unhappiness, reflected in self-blame, low self-esteem and low self-confidence. Nation-states legitimise continuing inequalities by promoting meritocracy. This promotion of meritocracy is responsible for people who are less successful in the competition feeling that they belong to a category of inferior beings who are personally responsible for their poor performance in the marketplace. Bauman regularly returns to the argument that people in liquid modernity are encouraged to view themselves as first and foremost as consumers. Individuals who are unable to consume are seen to be stigmatised and leading a life with an absence of pleasure.

The processes of negative globalisation generated the neoliberal revolution, a new form of free-floating and geographically all-penetrating global capitalism, a ‘Hobbesian’ world capable of reproducing itself by a process of exploitation by dispossession but unable and unwilling to reform itself. A form of capitalism directed by a global overclass who make decisions that are in the interests of that class itself and that impact directly on the economic well-being of people independently of the governments elected by those people. The polarisation of global inequality has negative impacts on the security and dignity of peoples’ lives.

Nation-states find themselves engaged in a process of standortkonkurrenz, a process of deregulation and privatisation to present their countries

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