The Bauman Institute

On Monday (16 April), Aditya Chakrabortty wrote a thought-provoking article in The Guardian entitled ‘Economics has failed us: but where are the fresh voices?’ The article is well worth a read, as are the numerous responses that followed from a diverse range of commentators.

The essence of Chakrabortty’s piece is captured in the strap line: Mainstream economic models have been discredited [true]. But why aren’t political scientists and sociologists offering an alternative view? [the truth is, they are]. Not unreasonably perhaps, the evidence for Chakrabortty’s claim was a seemingly hasty browse through the conference abstracts from the British Sociological Association’s Annual Conference  (held here at Leeds, 11-13 April). In his view, the conference was sadly lacking in addressing the ‘big questions’ of the moment, citing (somewhat unfairly) a single paper from a stream session as somehow emblematic of the entire sociological vocation. An annual conference like this rightly revels in accommodating and representing the diversity of a rich discipline that is proud of its multi-paradigmatic nature and its ability to address all manner of questions about the social world… yes, including the massage industry. But by relying upon a few abstracts – rather than attending the conference itself, which would have been another strategy for anyone genuinely interested / concerned about the vitality of sociology as a discipline – one is likely to get a rather partial view of what is being discussed over the course of a three day event. For example, alongside several conference sessions that debated the sociology of money, the main Plenary Session – an inspiring exchange between Professors Zygmunt Bauman and Michael Burawoy – focussed entirely on the dramatic social, political and economic changes wrought by neoliberalism and closed by establishing an agenda for a discipline that has far more to offer those wishing to understand the present complex of crises than does economics, which remains wedded too closely to established models and ideas (a point Chakrabortty is right to emphasise).

Chakrabortty is, however, also somewhat open to the charge of being too closely wedded to established models and ideas in assuming that sociologists are still locked in the ivory towers of the academy and speaking only to each other at professional conferences. Many sociologists are offering fresh voices in a variety of contexts and it is for them to offer their own response to Chakrabortty’s charge. For our part, since our launch in 2010 we have shown how sociology is now influencing a response to the global financial crisis in a variety of creative ways that might not be immediately available to those who sit down at a search engine in order to gather evidence before passing verdict. In order to “grasp our moment” now that Lehman Brothers has fallen over, as sociologists we have been working with the Council of Europe’s Social Cohesion and Development Division on a project that led to the creation, publication and subsequent ratification by the EC of a new ‘Charter of Shared Social Responsibilities’ that draws directly upon research by sociologists and political scientists in order to offer an alternative to the rampant individualised consumerism of the neoliberal age. We continue to work closely with Compass, new economics foundation, and recently ResPublica, all leading national think tanks that are shaping both intellectual and policy responses to the global financial crisis.

What may come as even more of a surprise to those who share Chakrabortty’s impression of sociology, is that the Bauman Institute is also being consulted by the private sector. This includes working alongside corporate representatives of the global co-operative movement, concerned with the destructive effects of neoliberalism on social capital and community well-being, and in providing the intellectual driving force for innovations in alternative models of social finance, such as Zopa and a new venture Abundance Generation. For example, empowering individuals to see their money as a source of investment-return, rather than just more ‘consumer spending power’, and encouraging that investment to seek returns in community assets that are local and tangible rather than based on the illusory ‘profit’ of the global investment casino, is an innovative way of stimulating the economy in a ‘post-crisis’ context that is providing the foundation for a more resilient social and economic reality. And it is being driven by a specifically sociological understanding of money that has shown how individuals invest for a wider range of reasons – social, ethical and cultural, optimising how money creates wealth for the community – rather than simply seeking profit purely for the sake of it. In other words, the last thing we need is a new economic ‘model’ to adapt or replace the existing neoliberal one. What is needed is a fundamental re-conceptualisation of social life in the twenty-first century and we argue strongly that Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of liquid modernity is the torch that will light our way as we try to navigate the complex realities of a post-crisis era.

The Bauman Institute has provided a space for a form of innovative thinking that has started to prove Chakrabortty’s first point [that economics has failed us], but startlingly to disprove his second point. As an invitation to debate, Chakrabortty’s piece is a valuable contribution to public discussion. It is to be hoped that the subsequent response has shown that sociology has plenty to say about the global financial crisis and how society should best respond to avoid recreating a model of economic life that operates in the interests of an elite few, rather than the many. This may not be apparent simply from a cursory browse through conference abstracts, but if you really want to know how sociology is providing fresh voices, the evidence is out there in abundance.

We now have video footage of Professor Bauman’s lecture tour throughout Europe from September 2010 to March 2011. The videos were produced by Bartek Dziadosz and Grzegorz Lepiarz – who are directing and producing the documentary film The Trouble With Being Human These Days  – and have recently been added to the site as part of the Bauman Institute Audio Visual Archive.

• Bauman Institute Audio Visual Archive.

The Audio-Visual Archive project would not have been possible without the shared vision, generosity and financial support provided by our project partners, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Poland.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone involved, especially the director, Pawel Potoroczyn.

Having been the inspiration for www.zopa.com, Liquid Modernity can now claim a new offspring –  www.abundancegeneration.com

Abundance hopes to disrupt the conventions of money and financial services which deliberately alienate and disorientate the individual by allowing ordinary people to earn cash by investing directly in renewable energy production.  The minimum investment is £5 which makes it the first truly accessible retail investment product authorised by the FSA in more than a decade.

Democratic finance won’t be stopping there, once we have proven the model with wind and solar farms, we will be enlisting truly public money in the financing of other forms of big society or good society (depending on your political persuasion/ glossary) including schools, hospitals, etc.

Launch is planned to be very soon – proof that the problem with money is not that the system is ‘broken’ and anti-social, just that people need to take back control and bring money back into the social domain.

As a part of the Histories of Violence project, directed by Dr Brad Evans (POLIS, University of Leeds), The Guardian newspaper has launched its 10 Years of Terror series: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/10-years-of-terror

Today, a specially commissioned video lecture by Zygmunt Bauman was launched on the Comment is Free website and can be accessed here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/sep/01/zygmunt-bauman-terrorism-video

For more information on the Histories of Violence project, see:

http://www.historiesofviolence.com/

http://www.sociology.leeds.ac.uk/bauman/research/

This one day, BSA sponsored conference, hosted at the University of Leeds in conjunction with the Bauman Institute, will be looking to discuss the following;

• How has sociological theory impacted on the ethical, economic, social and political landscape?
• Is there space for substantive ethical development within ‘the academy’?
• How might proposed drives towards efficiency, impact and ‘value-for-money’ lead to irrational outcomes?
• Can postgraduate students assert the value of sociology by opposing the changes inside academic institutions?
• Will there still be space for critical sociology or will changes to funding limit critical thought?

For more information, see http://www.lssi.leeds.ac.uk/events/higher-education-in-the-liquid-modern-era-swirling-down-the-drain/

The School of Sociology and Social Policy is delighted to announce two new scholarships at the Bauman Institute for 2011 to 2012 and invites applications from UK students that want to begin their studies in September 2011.

The two awards cover the full cost of fees and are available to students for either of the Bauman Institute’s MA programmes, namely MA Social and Political Thought and MA International Social Transformation.

More information about the scholarships and application forms are available here.

A quick update on developments following the Shared Social Responsibilities conference in Brussels at the start of this month.

The Council of Europe have created a webspace specifically for the conference, including a draft version of the Charter, copies of the main speeches, and information about forthcoming publications. More details can be found here.

On a related matter, Dr Sean Healy, Director of Social Justice Ireland, is organising a significant event in Dublin in September that concerns directly the idea of sharing social responsibilities as a strategy for the future.

Dr Healy has very kindly invited me to offer a keynote address at this event. The working title of my paper is: Crises of Consumerism – Sharing Social Responsbilities as a Way Ahead. More details on this event soon. Further information about Social Justice Ireland can be found at their website: Social Justice Ireland.

Zygmunt Bauman is now contributing frequently to Social Europe Journal (SEJ).

Social Europe Journal (SEJ) is the first journal, delivered mainly electronically, addressing issues of critical interest to progressives across Europe and beyond. It was founded in late 2004 and has been continuously published since spring 2005.

SEJ is above all a forum for debate and innovative political thinking. We not only deal with social democracy and European economic policy but also use ‘Social Europe’ as a viewpoint to examine issues such as globalisation, political economy, industrial policy and international relations.

Primarily as an electronic journal, we encourage interactive communication. It is our goal to make as many readers as possible active participants of SEJ. By providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas, SEJ is the pioneer of a new form of European public realm – a public realm that grows and is shaped from the people up; driven by citizens.

We are committed to publishing stimulating articles by the most thought-provoking authors. Since its founding, SEJ has published writers of the highest calibre including several Nobel laureates, international political leaders and academics as well as some of the best young talent.

SEJ is published by Social Europe Journal Ltd., a UK-based not-for-profit company, in cooperation with the Global Policy Institute London and the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.

You can follow Zygmunt’s column here.

Videos from “Re-thinking Global Society” – the Bauman Institute launch conference are now available on this website. They include the welcome address, all plenary sessions, the special session and closing address given by Zygmunt Bauman.

I was delighted recently to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

For further information on the RSA, click here.

In particular, see the wonderful RSA Animates series that includes short animated lectures by Matthew Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Slavoj Zizek, David Harvey, and Philip Zimbardo.