A victim of the Nazis, then the communists. Twice a refugee, yet always remaining a committed socialist. In countless ways, Zygmunt Bauman lived the political upheavals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He was an actor within them. Bauman’s own lived history informed his politics, which found expression in varying degrees in his sociology, as he wrote extensively on socialism, democracy, bureaucracy, morality, Europe and the Jewish experience.
This volume brings together hitherto unknown or rare pieces by Bauman on the themes of history and politics by drawing upon previously unpublished material from the Bauman Archive at the University of Leeds. A substantial introduction by the editors provides readers with a lucid guide through this material and develops connections to Bauman’s other works.
The second volume in a series of books that will make available the lesser-known writings of one of the most influential social thinkers of our time, History and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars across the arts, humanities and social sciences, and to a wider readership.
Series Introduction ABOUT THE EDITORS Translator’s Note Editors’ Introduction: History and Politics in the Sociological Imagination of Zygmunt Bauman THE SOLITARY HORSEMAN COMMUNISM CONTRA FASCISM SOCIALISM CONTRA NATIONALISM WHENCE REVOLUTION? WEST ENCOUNTERS EAST PARVENU AND PARIAH: PARADOXES OF ASSIMILATION IS THERE A FUTURE LEFT? CONCLUSION NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Tractate on Bureaucracy (1957) WHENCE BUREAUCRACY? GIVING ORDERS OR TAKING THEM? THE WILL OF BUREAUCRACY THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BUREAUCRACY PRO DOMO SUA ENEMY OR ALLY? Notes 2 On the Political Mechanisms of Bourgeois Democracy (1961) THE FUNCTIONING OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL MECHANISMS GOVERNMENT BY OPINION, OR THE PRODUCTION OF OPINIONS? ‘BOURGEOIS-NESS’ OF DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALIST SOCIAL RELATIONS Notes 3 The Limitations of ‘Perfect Planning’ (1966) A. FUNCTIONAL REQUISITES OF ‘PERFECT PLANNING’ 1. Resource self-sufficiency 2. Perfect information 3. Perfect rationality by planners 4. Social homogeneity 5. Perfect hierarchic control B. INITIAL LIMITATIONS OF SOCIALIST PLANNING 1. Foreign trade 2. The household frame of reference C. HETEROGENEITY OF INTERESTS IN GOAL FORMULATION 1. Investment vs consumption 2. Collective vs individual consumption 3. Income levelling vs income differentiation 4. Goal formulation vs goal attainment D. THE PROCESS OF GOAL ATTAINMENT 3. The qualitative heterogeneity of human needs 3. The special problem of the present E. SUMMARY: INHERENT CONTRADICTIONS AS LIMITATIONS 1. Institutional 2. Political 3. Instrumental 4. Technical Notes 4 The End of Polish Jewry: A Sociological Review (1969) I FINAL SOLUTION 1968 II SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF THE JEWS IN COMMUNIST POLAND III WHO WILL LEAVE AND WHO WILL STAY? Notes 5 At the Crossroads in a World at the Crossroads (c.1970) Notes 6 Between State and Society (1973) Notes 7 On the Maturation of Socialism (1981) Notes 8 Exit Visas and Entry Tickets: Paradoxes of Jewish Assimilation (1988) THE PENT-UP REVOLUTION ANTINOMIES OF EMANCIPATION THE ALLUREMENTS AND TRAPS OF ASSIMILATION ASSIMILATION’S INNER DEMONS EMANCIPATORY LIMITS OF ASSIMILATION ASSIMILATION THROUGH REVOLUTION JEWISH ROADS TO REVOLUTION Notes 9 The Holocaust: Fifty Years Later (1994) Notes 10 Names of Suffering, Names of Shame (2001) AFTER ONE CRIME, ANOTHER WILL IT BE DIFFERENT? GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY THREE SYMBOLS AMERICA AND EGOISM FOR SUFFICIENT STRENGTH Notes 11 Britain after Blair, or Thatcherism Consolidated (2007) ERODED HUMAN BONDS, WILTED SOLIDARITY DISMANTLING THE SOCIAL STATE RETREAT OF AND FROM POLITICS DEMOCRACY IN TROUBLE FROM SOCIAL STATE TO PERSONAL SAFETY STATE? AFTER ALL THAT – WHERE TO START? Notes 12 Panic among the Parasites, or For Whom the Bell Tolls (2010) Notes 13 The Haunting Spectre of ‘Westphalian Sovereignty’ (2012) Notes 14 Europe’s Adventure: Still Unfinished? (2016) Notes Acknowledgements Index
Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017) was Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Leeds.
Reviews for History and Politics: Selected Writings, Volume 2
‘We live in an age when in every decade one day occurs – such as 9/11 or 24 February – after which matters taken firmly for granted yesterday are abruptly swept away. It is the rare sociological genius of Zygmunt Bauman that helps us to make critical sense of such liquidity.’ Claus Offe ‘Among émigré intellectuals, ranging from the Frankfurt School to Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin, Zygmunt Bauman stands out for his intimate knowledge and experience of “really existing socialisms” and their demise after 1989. In this new essay collection, drawn from his archives, we experience the sizzling quality of his insights and the beauty of his prose as he reflects on bureaucracy, class vs status, the new anti-Semitism and much else.’ Seyla Benhabib
