There are other ways of finding satisfaction, recipes for human happiness, enjoyment, dignified and meaningful, gratifying life, than increased consumption that increases production.
Zygmunt BaumanRead
This awful concept of underclass is really horrifying. You're not lower class, you are excluded - outside.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the exclusion of certain social classes and the horror it brings to society.
Zygmunt Bauman critiques the notion of an 'underclass' by emphasizing that such a label signifies exclusion rather than just a lower socioeconomic status. This perspective highlights the dehumanizing effects of societal classification, suggesting that those deemed 'excluded' are marginalized and isolated from the rest of society, leading to a deeper understanding of social inequalities.
Themes
ExclusionUnderclassSocietyInequalityMarginalization
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might say: 'As Zygmunt Bauman reminds us, this awful concept of underclass is truly horrifying.'
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In a liquid modern life there are no permanent bonds, and any that we take up for a time must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again, as quickly and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change - as they surely will in our liquid modern society, over and over again.
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We belong to talking, not what talking is about... Stop talking - and you are out. Silence equals exclusion.
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The carrying power of a bridge is not the average strength of the pillars, but the strength of the weakest pillar. I have always believed that you do not measure the health of a society by GNP but by the condition of its worst off.
Zygmunt BaumanRead
As far as love is concerned, possession, power, fusion and disenchantment are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Zygmunt BaumanRead
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