In its original formulation, 'culture' was intended to be an agent
for change, a mission undertaken with the aim of educating 'the
people' by bringing the best of human thought and creativity to
them. But in our contemporary liquid-modern world, culture has lost
its missionary role and has become a means of seduction: it seeks
no longer to enlighten the people but to seduce them. The function
of culture today is not to satisfy existing needs but to create new
ones, while simultaneously ensuring that existing needs remain
permanently unfulfilled. Culture today likens itself to a giant
department store where the shelves are overflowing with desirable
goods that are changed on a daily basis - just long enough to
stimulate desires whose gratification is perpetually postponed. In
this new book Zygmunt Bauman - one of the most brilliant and
influential social thinkers of our time - retraces the
peregrinations of the concept of culture and examines its fate in a
world marked by the powerful new forces of globalization, migration
and the intermingling of populations. He argues that Europe has a
particularly important role to play in revitalizing our
understanding of culture precisely because Europe, with its great
diversity of peoples, languages and histories, is the space where
the Other is always one's neighbour and where each is constantly
called upon to learn from everyone else.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!