Zygmunt Bauman's poisoned gift of morality*

Junge, Matthias

doi:10.1080/00071310020023055

Cited by 24 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…We agree with those who argue that Bauman's post-modern ethics is a non-sociological approach to morality (Jungle, 2001: 110). But it is also stipulative and essentialist in the sense that Bauman wants to specify what morality must be.…”

Section: The ‘Norms-and-values’ Paradigmsupporting

confidence: 86%

The Rise and Fall of the Fact/Value Distinction

Davydova

Sharrock

2003

The Sociological Review

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The paper addresses the problem of the conceptualisation of morality in sociology. The traditional sociological conception of morality was based upon the acceptance of a fact/value dichotomy, implying that sociology portrays the factual nature of morality, which thereby becomes equivalent to group conformityThe opposition of fact and value was brought into question by trends of thought that followed from, respectively, Alfred Schutz and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The line from Schutz's ideas led towards their reformulation by Harold Garfinkel, who to large extent integrated the 'moral' with the 'cognitive'. Wittgenstein's influence, through, especially Peter Winch, John W. Cook and Alfred Louch undercut the idea that sociological descriptions were themselves purely factual, rather than integrally evaluative. A third stream is represented by Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, who adopt the idea that morality must be understood in its social and historical context, and explicitly reject the separation of fact and value in moral inquiry.The fact/value distinction is the source of chronic problems for the sociology of morality. Specifically, a sociological account of morality, that would define the correct understanding of the nature of morality -ie identify what substantive character and content is appropriate to it -is not possible. The disintegration of the fact/value dichotomy also means that the idea that the social context can itself be described independently of normative considerations is an illusion.Relatively recently morality has again become a matter of reflection for sociological thought. Previously, sociology possessed a concept of morality, albeit one with more-or-less default status. This conception was based upon acceptance of a fact/value dichotomy, implying that sociology portrayed morality as an empirical matter, thus equivalent to treating it as a matter of conformity to a group's predominant norms -morality was whatever occupied that position within a group. We call this approach to conceptualisation of morality the 'norms-and-values' paradigm. The sharp, stark opposition of fact and value was brought into question by trends of thought that followed from, respectively, Alfred Schutz and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The line from Schutz's ideas (related to phenomenological philosophy and partly to Weber) led towards their reformulation by Harold Garfinkel. This line of thought, challenging the concept of rationality (also based on the fact/value split), and a rigid

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Section: The ‘Norms-and-values’ Paradigmsupporting

confidence: 86%

The Rise and Fall of the Fact/Value Distinction

Davydova

Sharrock

2003

The Sociological Review

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“…As an indicator of positive sociality, kindness can be located between the asymmetrical demands of Bauman's () ‘being for the Other’ and the basic demands of everyday civility. Kindness sits between the heroic/exceptional and self‐sacrificial demands of altruism (Junge ) and routine expectations of civil behaviour (Phillips and Smith ). Kindness is a moral emotion involving feelings of authenticity and empathic concern (Clegg and Rowland : 728).…”

Section: Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindness in Australia: an empirical critique of moral decline sociology

Habibis

Hookway

Vreugdenhil

2016

British Journal of Sociology

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A new sociological agenda is emerging that interrogates how morality can be established in the absence of the moral certainties of the past but there is a shortage of empirical work on this topic. This article establishes a theoretical framework for the empirical analysis of everyday morality drawing on the work of theorists including Ahmed, Bauman and Taylor. It uses the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes to assess the state and shape of contemporary moralities by asking how kind are Australians, how is its expression socially distributed, and what are the motivations for kindness. The findings demonstrate that Australians exhibit a strong attachment and commitment to kindness as a moral value that is primarily motivated by interiorized sources of moral authority. We argue these findings support the work of theorists such as Ahmed and Taylor who argue authenticity and embodied emotion are legitimate sources of morality in today's secular societies. The research also provides new evidence that generational changes are shaping understandings and practices of kindness in unexpected ways.

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“…Bauman commits himself to non-reciprocal view of which is clearly open to contestation in the field of sociology and has been termed un-sociological (see, e.g. Junge, 2001). To the critics, it seemed that Bauman is willing to follow Lévinas all the way to theology at the cost of jettisoning a historical and sociological understanding of the human condition as one can expect from a social theorist.…”

Section: Morality As Utopia’s Counterpartmentioning

confidence: 99%

The U-turn of utopia – Utopia, socialism and modernity in Zygmunt Bauman’s social thought

Aidnik

Jacobsen²

2019

Irish Journal of Sociology

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Zygmunt Bauman was undoubtedly one of the most prolific and renowned social theorists of the later part of the 20th and the early part of the 21st century. In his work spanning more than half a century, Bauman explored and tangled with some often overlooked topics within mainstream sociology such as freedom, the Holocaust, morality, art, immortality and utopia. In this article, the authors delineate the development of an unmistakable utopian mentality in Bauman’s writings from the early pieces concerned with socialism and culture through the acclaimed body of work dealing with modernity and postmodernity to the most recent writings investigating, for example, the rise of ‘Retrotopia’. Throughout Bauman’s work, one will discover that utopia is always present – either explicitly or implicitly – as a critique of the world ‘as it is’ and the world we uncritically take for granted. In this way, Bauman urges his readers to consider that there is always possibility for change and that we are the human motors who can make it happen.

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Zygmunt Bauman's poisoned gift of morality*

Cited by 24 publications

References 11 publications

The Rise and Fall of the Fact/Value Distinction

The Rise and Fall of the Fact/Value Distinction

Kindness in Australia: an empirical critique of moral decline sociology

The U-turn of utopia – Utopia, socialism and modernity in Zygmunt Bauman’s social thought

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