Zygmunt Bauman was born in Poland in 1925 into a Jewish family. Fourteen years later he escaped with his family into the Soviet Union, when the Nazis invaded Poland, and then joined the Polish First Army – controlled at that time by the Soviets. Becoming a dedicated communist, he joined the KBW, a military internal security organization, and during this time he studied sociology at the Warsaw Academy of Social Sciences. When he was dismissed from the KBW, he completed his MA and became lecturer at the University of Warsaw. Bauman was driven out of Poland by an anti-Semitic campaign and has resided in London since 1971, where he accepted a chair of sociology at the University of Leeds in 1972, and remained there until 1990 when he retired, being awarded professor Emeritus. …show more content…
The main concept that is present throughout his works is that of 'liquid' modernity in contrast with the solid modernity. This period of transition from old to new is actually a rupture of the present with the past that is acquired through change. The excerpts discussed during the seminar from the book ‘Liquid Modernity’ issued in 2000, his speech given in 2003 and ‘Consuming Life’ issued in 2007 highlight several aspects of modernity and consumption. Whilst the solid modernity paints a society where its members are seen as producers with a life that tends to be normatively regulated, the liquid modernity regards a society with no norms, people being considered consumers guided by seduction, by higher and higher desires, and by volatile
In the true story of Prisoner B-3087, Yanek the young and willful protagonist shares his experiences from ten different concentration camps during the Holocaust. At the early stages of war, young Yanek and his tightly knit family lived in the city of Krakow, Poland. Once Germany started invading Poland, Yanek’s father told him the war would end very soon because the allies will fight back. If I were Yanek, I wouldn’t have listened to my father. Once the Nazis settled into Poland, new stringent Jew codes were created and it made life hard for the Jews, because their education, jobs, and lifestyle vanished.
“Homeland is something one becomes aware of only through its loss, Gunter Grass.” In Peter Gay’s memoir, My German Question, he articulates what it was like living in Germany with the presence of the Nazis or in his own experience the lack there of. Peter lived in a family that didn’t directly practice Judaism and most German families didn’t perceive them as Jews until the Nazis defined what a Jew was to the public. The persecution of other Jewish families in Germany where far worse than what Peter experienced growing up. There was a major contrast between how Gay’s family was treated and how other Jews who actively practiced the religion in Germany were treated which played a contributing factor for why the family stayed so long before they left.
One day there was this boy who had a dream of being the best in football. The boy 's name is Zogam and he is 10 years old. Zogam started playing football 2 years ago and has never been good at it. The only bad thing about Zogam is that is is very miniature, but Zogam is only 10.
He, along with his family and other Jewish residents of his town were taken prisoners and placed in confinement ghettos. Ghettos is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, typically as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. The war finally ended in 1945 and the camp was liberated by the U.S. Third Army on April 11, 1945. After the holocaust he enrolled in Sorbonne and studied literature, philosophy and psychology. While in his late teens, he started working as a journalist and began writing for the French newspaper ‘L’Arche.’
The first chapter of Fetishism of Modernities by Bernard Yack is, in essence, an exercise in the process of lumping and splitting, discussed by Eviatar Zerubavel in Lumping and Splitting: Notes on Social Classification. In his writing, Yack strives to come up with a way of defining the concept of modernity so that he can explore it further in his book. In the first chapter, Yack uses lumping and splitting to help define the complex idea of modernity and to outline a way to determine if things or ideas belong in the group of those things which are modern. Yack begins by wrestling with how language, which should facilitate the grouping of concepts, makes understanding of the concept of modernity difficult.
In December of 1938, months before Nazi Germany fully invaded Czechoslovakia a British banker named Nicholas Winton was quickly changing his winter vacation plans (USHMM, 2017). Instead, he decided to help in Prague, Czechoslovakia at a British-operated Jewish refugee center. After the infamous pogrom known as Kirstallnacht, new laws were enacted allowing Jews to enter Britain (Eurnekian, 2015). Through Nicholas ' consistent and selfless personality, he took advantage of this situation in Czechoslovakia. He helped in a refugee center, raised money in Britain and transported Jewish children to safety which made him an inspiration to thousands.
Consumerism began as a purposeful way of producing more and more stuff for America’s biggest businessmen. This concept alongside strategic promotion proved successful in changing American culture from working to live to living to work. Which has caused corporate greed, monopolies, irreversible global warming, family dynamic disruptions and even more issues. It may not appear to be going anywhere, but starvation will make the decision for the world, if no one finds a better way to serve a growing population. (80)
Discussion Topic 4: Rubens and Tapestry Design The Meeting Between Abraham and Melchizedek, by Rubens is a preparatory oil sketches from the 1620s until 1633. The story behind the composition is Melchizedek, King of Salem, met Abraham who was offering him wine and bread. He was on his way back from defeating Chedorlaomer.
Name: Michelle Moffitt Student Number: 12474438 "I define modernism as any attempt by modern men and women to become subjects as well as objects of modernisation, to get a grip on the modern world and make themselves at home in it." (Berman, 1988). It can be seen that both Theodor Adorno and Antonio Gramsci are major thinkers and contributors to the twentieth century. Both Adorno and Gramsci had many ideas by which could be associated with the social world in which we live in today. Even though both Adorno and Gramsci had good points and ideologies which still apply to the modern world, it is clear that Adorno had more to say about the social world we live in today.
We all dream of a more simple life, one without the need for large amounts of money, or top of the line technology. In the TV series “Futurama” written and produced by David X. Cohen (Producer of the simpsons) we see Dr. John A. Zoidberg (better known as Zoidberg) who lives this more simple, yet elegant lifestyle. Even in the year 3000 he proves that no matter when you are the transcendentalist life is possible. Zoidberg is a Decapodian, a lobsterish alien from Decapod 10; he is the staff doctor at the delivery company at planet express, and lives in their dumpster.
Individuals even in a state of zombification are looking for self-definition in the shopping mall. The commodity fetishism empowers the capitalist system and allows the individuals to live a utopian fantasy of autonomy (Bishop 2010: 247). People believe that they are free when they buy an object of their desire. However, in a sense they indirectly fall victims of exploitation, which is the purpose of the bourgeoise (Bishop 2010: 247). Just as zombies never satisfy their appetite for human flesh, consumers cannot restrain themselves from buying.
In William Zinsser's essay "Simplicity" he discusses and emphasizes the importance of meaningful writing. Moreover, Zinsser refers to American writing as "clutter" writing, due to "unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon." In addition, Zinsser believes that ample wording may confuse the reader, and cause them to lose their ability to focus. Furthermore, causing the reader to become uninterested and unable to comprehend what they are reading. Similarly, Zinsser mentions that if the reader fails to read the entire article, essay, magazine, or book, that it is the authors own fault, not the readers.
Emmanuel Levinas was a Jewish philosopher born in Lithuania in 1906. In 1931, he moved to and lived in France for the rest of his life. He was enlisted in the war against Germany, was captured, and became a prisoner of war. At the same time, most of his family who still resided in Eastern Europe were killed in the Holocaust. In his works, Levinas attempts to disprove theodicies (371).
Brodsky’s writing reflects much on his childhood, which included much pain, suffering, and adversity because he grew up in the Soviet Union. He and family faced persecution because of their Jewish faith. For example, his father was expelled from the
“Modernism in the play Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca brought out through theme of Fate and Nature.” The play Blood wedding, set in the city of Spain during the age of modernism dating back to the 1930’s is written by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. The beauty of the time has been brought out in the form of nature and appallingly chronological events of destiny. It talks about the time when adultery and abortion were considered evils and women were chastised for obliging but men were acquitted for the same. This implies the making of a very misogynistic society with philosophies of modernism touching the Spanish ethos.