Titolo: LIQUID FEARS: contemporarysociety and its liquid fearsAutore: Zygmunt BaumanAnno: 2008Pagine: Editore: Paidos Editorial (Buenos Aires)Prezzo:ISBN: 978-950-125400-6

Fears and phobias would be deemed ashuman reactions that protect us by signa-ling danger. However, after the attackson September 11th in the United States,they have been transformed in panic andmultiplied in the heart of industrializedsocieties. This review focuses on theinfluence of such fear over the modernliquid societies. In an introductory chap-ter, Zygmunt Bauman argues that, incontrast to animals (which feel basicfears like a kind of impulse to escape inspecific situations), men have the abilityto elaborate a secondary fear characteri-zed by being “socially and culturally”recycled. Oddly, “the fear is more terrible when itis diffuse, dispersed, not very clear; whenit floats freely elsewhere, without bonds,anchors, home or a clear cause”(Bauman, 2008:10). Simply, human fearstranscend the boundaries of time andspace while they remain in our fantasy.This lies in the ground of consciencewhich regulates the behavior amonghuman beings even when no direct threatexists (derivative fear). The dangers and “derivative fears” canbe classified in three types: a) those thatthreaten the person physically, b) thosethat threaten the durability of the socialorder where a person lives in, and c)those that threaten the phenomenologicalperson’s place in the world. Although aderivative fear does not imply an immi-nent danger, feeling of insecurity can bechanneled by means of other mecha-nisms applying the principle of coopera-tion. In fact, modern State is in charge oftheir citizen’s security; however, when itsown possibilities are exceeded, responsi-bility is assigned to other spheres such ascapital market. Following this explanation, humanbeings usually try to reduce the undesir-able consequences of sudden events,transforming fears in risks.Philosophically, risks are characterizedby being calculable while certainnessfocuses on the “visible and possible dan-

gers.” Likewise, Bauman outlines that nocatastrophe is harder than impossible. Inthe collapse of “civilization”, the state ofnature (according to hobessian´s thesis)prevented people from fighting by meansof common material resources. That way,civilized life is presented as a form ofsheet, beyond the limits of disorder andbarbarism. In the so-called “Titanic syn-drome”, Bauman explains the paradox ofpanic in modern liquid modernity.Titanic disaster, like the luxurioustransatlantic, represents the social orderwhile iceberg symbolizes the vulnerabil-ity of humanity. Basically, modern societies are beingdevastated by the same fears whichwreak gradually havoc in the daily life.Thanks to the selfishness and progressivesocial fragmentation each citizen facesthese types of fears individually. This isthe case of modern “terror to death” inwhich Bauman emphasizes that the mes-sage of modern television (like BigBrother) programs show human weak-nesses in public; survival is only possiblefor one person while condemnation ispart of the majority’s fate. In accordanceto Bauman, Big Brother works as a“moral story” in which punishment andrecompense become more important thansolidarity. Again and again throughout the book,Bauman assesses that, from all animalsin the planet, only human beings fear tothe presence of death. This feeling notonly is innate but also suggests a con-science intended to anxiously find thesense of being in this world. From alldeeds that humans are afraid of, deathhas always been the less known for them.In this regard, culture works as a mecha-nism that helps humanity to bear herinevitable presence every day. That way, “the original sin”, “theredemption” and consequent salvationare essential issues in human being’sworld. Beyond the recompense, eachperson chooses how to live its own life.In turn, like salvation, fame is our destinyand demands an appropriate sacrifice.Unlike a hero who individually looks forhis own fame and salvation, religion pro-vides the opportunity of transcendencewhenever people might not access to thebenefits of personal immortality. In the threshold of French Revolution,Bauman sustains France adopted theancient roman pro patria formula. As aresult of this, modern State and its citi-

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zens created a bridge towards solidarityand reciprocity so that their own survivalwas granted. The society’s welfare wasmore than important for those who diedin the field of battle anonymity. Thisexample helps understanding the reasonswhy citizens are devoted to redemptionas a vehicle to reduce anxiety. If hobess-ian and durkheimian thesis are correct,humankind founded the society(Leviathan) as a sacral entity in opposi-tion to the action of mystery. Nonetheless, in our liquid modern soci-ety of consumers, strategies aredeployed in marginalizing or disregard-ing all that is long-lived; from this per-spective, people look forward to devalu-ing all own experiences shaped in theimmortality. Unlike a couple of cen-turies ago, our modern views are notaimed at accessing eternity but a transi-tory style of life (profane). In the deconstructionism of death, nega-tive and disastrous consequences are leftbehind; in consequence, humankind isexperiencing an increase in the level ofpanic because of its possible destructiveaftermaths. In other words, the fear ofdying is not other feeling than horror tobeing excluded, abandoned, and forgot-ten by the neighbor. Under these circum-stances, humanity is continuously beingfragmented due to individualism andegoism; that way, our obsession of livingforever is converted in a vehicle towardsdisaggregation. If, in fact, a communitywas united and rooted in the belief thatdeath was an external and extraordinaryissue, nowadays individualism calmsdown such a concern trivializing theimportance of emotional bondages. Inshort, whenever social linkages weaken,a likelihood of considering mortality as aremote event emerges. In the course of reading, Bauman dealswith the relationship between evil andfear. Human Beings are aimed at scaringthe negative consequences of their moti-vations and thoughts. Meaning of evilwould work as a kind of rational explana-tion in which people would understandand justify “god’s wills”; unpredictablecatastrophes or events do not happen atrandom; otherwise, they are part of adivine plan in response to human’s sins.

Everything that happens in this worldwould be (implicit or not) caused byhuman’s behaviors. Underpinned by theSecond World War’s crimes and

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Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem whereextermination was supposedly justifiedby his smart lawyers arguing that it was adecision made by the top of Nazi’s hier-archal Bureaucracy, the main thesis inBauman outlines that rational allegationcontinuously reminds the presence ofevil in our life (not only a Tsunami butalso the ethnic genocides). Basically,anxiety arises whenever human relationscollapse because the sense of world turnsunpredictable. Culturally, natural disas-ters like Katrina showed that the poorhad been more prejudiced than others inAmerican society. Following the example of Katrina hurri-cane, Bauman assures that most inhabi-tants in New Orleans were “black orLatin American”. Furthermore, morethan a fourth part of the population livedunder the limit of poverty. Quite asidefrom Katrina, the victims had beenexcluded from economic progress longtime ago. Modernism as well asAmerican capitalism had already prom-ised humankind the immunity before theauthoritarian desires of nature but thiswas evidently selective and exclusivejust for a few people. In other words,catastrophes or climate disasters cut theworld in two, emphasizing the previouscultural frontiers where there are personswho deserve to be saved and others whodo not. The main thesis in Bauman is that mod-ern bureaucracy not only ethically affectsthe responsibility for actions in the dif-ferent gears in organization but also takesmoral reciprocity subduing emotionsonto a secondary role. In the course ofthe twentieth century, humankindreplaced the moral opinion by instrumen-tal methodologies that have been put inhands in order to make the decision-mak-

ing’s process more efficient. Once theappropriate abilities to consider how touse it rationality are deteriorated, tech-nology’s advances had the intention ofreducing the costs of freedom. The sus-pension of ethic order in conjunctionwith a moral responsibility’s declinationappears to be predominant in liquidtimes. From this change of mind, tech-nological fetishism performs the role of apolitical mechanism in substituting themodern guilty (because of a lack ofobservance of moral issues) by the needof being constantly informed. In otherwords, information and tecnos equili-brate and purify our bad actions and deci-sions. The paradox of technologyreminds us that even though there is animmensurable speed in our technicaladvances, our moral did not evolve fromEva and Adam’s times. Taking its cue from R. Castels, Baumanoutlines that the increase of risks andinsecurity’s feeling in people is not theresult from the protection’s shortage buta lack of clarity as regards fate. A sinistermotivation became a mirror of our ownimpossibility to make firm and durablelinkages and substitute them by a moreimpersonal modern trademark.Historically, fears have in fact accompa-nied humankind but in liquid modernitythey are traded beyond the jurisdiction ofNation-States. Once again, an excessivecompetition jeopardizes reciprocity andsolidarity.On the other hand, ignorance and egoismensure that disaster’s impacts are moreextreme and chaotic according to socialperception. In ancient times, Prophetswere concerned over predicting that theend of world was coming. That way, inthe line of history men have put theirefforts to prevent doomsday from com-

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ing true. Nevertheless, in modern times there areno boundaries between fantasy and reali-ty. The negative modern globalizationwould imminently turn into a real catas-trophe because of a lack of prophesies.Most likely, after a long period of stabil-ity, any minimal change or disruptionwould be taken as a sign of disasteraccelerating the social fragmentation. The following review has been intendedto clarify and explain some points ofBauman’s book even though some othermethodological issues would be re-con-sidered. At a first instance, it is not clearhow capitalist trademark reduces soli-darity and secondly, how these restric-tions cause a society defense declinationagainst fears. In general, Bauman’s textis well-written but with grammar riddles(like parenthesis) that hinder the readingin several parts. Finally, even if Bauman did not definewhat the fear is in any part of his interest-ing meditation, he forgets the influenceof milenarism in the propagation of mod-ern panics. Possibly, September 11thattacks in the United States had moreimpact (or not) than Hiroshima andNagasaki’s bombings. The point is thatthe end of millennium woke up diversefeelings associated with anxiety, fears,panics, and the like which deserve beinginvestigated in future approaches. Inspite of the aforementioned issues, weconsider Liquid Fears as more thanimportant for all scholars who are con-cerned with topics of this nature.

MAXI KORSTANJE(Palermo Universitu, Argentina,

Departiment of Economics)

170MAXI KORSTANJE