December 1995 - February 1996

INSTITUT FUR I\Yl DIE WISSENSCHAFTEN Newsletter 52 VOM MENSCHEN

INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN SCIENCES

A-1090 Vienna Spittelauer Lände 3 Tel.(+431) 31358-0 Fax (+431) 31358-30 E-Mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: The Fourth Central European Forum http ://www. ping.aViwm/ Contents iwmhome.htm Providing Social Welfare Thê Fourth Central European Forum under Conditions of Providing Social Welfare under Conditions of Constraint o Constraint Helen Addison December 15-16, Vienna Stock Exchange

Junior Visiting Fellows Conference Report by Helen Addison, SOCO Project Conference Coordinator and Coordinator of the Conference

ffi m I I Hannah Arendt Prize The Fourth Central European Forum was, like its predeces- Jury Selects Candidates sors, an event to bring together policymakers and scholars from East-Central , Western Europe and the United IWM-Field of Research States to discuss the vital social issues of the post- IH il Rethinking Post-War communist transformation and to exchange knowledge Europe based on Western experience. The topic of this forum is a

t:d Tony Judt challenge that confronts equally both East and West: how to provide social welfare under conditions of constraint. Working Report The constraints that were discussed were not just Making of the Underclass financial. While the participants did speak in detail about in the constraints on high levels of social spending, they also lvan Szelenyi explored the constraints on policy change posed by citizens'expectations and the fear of political instability or a o Guests crumbling social order. Tuesday Lectures The forum began with a provocative juxtaposition of the Publications consequences of choosing a certain welfare regime or Travels and Talks policy. Lord DahrendoÍ, in the keynote speech, painted a portrait of three responses to the dilemma of how to ensure Obituary for prosperity in a free society while maintaining social cohe- Emmanuel Levinas sion-responses that favor either competitiveness, social - Jozef Tischner cohesion or political liberty-and challenged us not to accept the easy tale that we can have only two of these Varia goals, not all three. Yet, from Dahrendorf's illustration of the case of three cities, one is reminded of how lodged are Guestcontributions welfare regimes in the unique historical development of a Squaring the Circle specific country's political economy. Lord Dahrendorf ln Central Europe, however, the former state-socialist welfare structures have been dislodged, and what sort of Social Welfare in priorities to emphasize in welfare reform-indeed what sort Democratic Society of societies to shape-has not been determined by recent Kurt Biedenkopf historical or cultural experience. The panelists in the morning session emphasized a range of priorities. Zsuzsa Does the Welfare State Ferge advised political leaders not to neglect the con- Have a Future? straints imposed by citizens'expectations of social protec- tion by the state. The findings of the SOCO project's Soctal IWM-News/effer 52 December 1995 - February 1996 Page 2

Consequences of Transition survey demonstrate that many and pragmatic support to enable them to restructure, not people feel that their existential security is not assured in through direct subsidies, but through other targeted the transition and that they might value security higher than methods to reduce bottlenecks and promote efficiency, the new political freedoms. Many people have had their thereby leading to greater job growth and lower social expectations deceived, warned Ferge, and politicians costs. should take this seriously. The afternoon session of the forum focused on new For Leszek Balcerowicz, however, the best way to concepts and visions of social welfare provision. Claus assure the security of citizens is to give them more jobs Offe's talk demonstrated that even in continental Western and raise their income by improving the conditions for economic development. Those forms of social welfare incompatible with a high rate of economic growth should be avoided. As to how to move from incompatible to compat- ible forms of social policy, Balcerowicz says the choice is either between now and later, since even "Sacred cows can die because of lack of financingJ' For Eastern Europe this means governments must reform the pension systems, lower the magnitude of social spending, and avoid mis- takes made in the West, especially with respect to labor market rigidities. ln general agreement with Balcerowicz, Vladimir Dlouhy o did however bring the discussion back to the very real political consequences of citizens' deceived expectations. He reminded us that people are voting for former commu- nists in Central Europe and advised that if conservatives want to survive this leftward swing of the political pendu- Kurt Biedenkopf and h¡rd Dahrendorf conversation the lum, they must convincingly answer the question of in at Fourth Central European Forum whether their economic policies have a social content. They do, in Dlouhy's estimation, since "the competitiveness of firms, industries and the economy is the main security Europe, the constraints on restructuring welfare arrange- for the individual." ln essence, reformers should stick to the ments are, like in Central Europe, not simply financial. original conservative policies. But the West should recog- Bestructuring welfare also has implications for the entire nize that these policies cannot be sustained if surrounded social order. This social order is predicated on a complex externally by protectionism. welfare institutional structure, which is responsible for Kathie Krumm added to the views of the two Central political stability and the generation of net positive eco- European political leaders in cautioning that a false sense nomic outcomes. The failure of the economy to generate of social cohesion comes from policies that are inconsist- full employment since the mid-1970s endangers this entire ent with poverty reduction and growth. Both the poor and institutional structure. The virtually universal response in the non-poor benefit most from growth and the opportuni- Western Europe to this new post-full-employment situation ties for productive employment. lt is clear that the level of is to reform the structure along liberal economic lines, o social transfers has to be lowered to attain this growth, and which will affect more than just the level of employment and the existing benefit systems should focus on providing security, but the entire social order as we know it. benefits to the truly vulnerable. Krumm asserted that these This threat to the social order stemming from certain steps would be fair from an equity point of view and policy choices is not just limited to and the rest of possible from an economic point of view, but queried how continental Europe, judging from Richard Freeman's to achieve it politically. She suggested that a possible way comments. The critical issue to Freeman is not so much the is to present the facts clearly to the people of Central level of social spending, but the focus of that spending. Europe so that they can make an informed, public choice Benefits ought to be delivered to the neediest, said Free- between false promises and a system that relies on growth man. Yet, in the the pressures for reform are and jobs as the main form of social security. pushing towards cutting benefits to the poor, rather than But did the social costs of the transition have to be so eliminating programs that benefit the middle class. And great? ln a spirited counterpoint, Alice Amsden explained with rapidly rising income inequality, millions of homeless why not. A cause of the high level of social costs, she said, people on the streets, and crime going through the roof, the is the type of policies promulgated by her fellow panelists, U.S. social fabric is unraveling. Freeman questioned representing the World Bank and Eastern European whether it is not time to try out some programs to bring the decision makers. Why did their pro-growth economic poor and dislocated back into society. But changing the policies not create more jobs? To Amsden the reason is focus of spending is politically difficult, with the middle that many potentially viable companies were left to flounder class armed and ready to protect its interests. Freeman at the crucial moment when they should have been restruc- predicted that squaring the magic circle will not be an easy tured, thus they had no chance to survive. lnstead, said task. Amsden, they should have been given creative, prudent IWM-News/etfer 52 December 1995 - February 1996 Page 3

Assuring political stability and social cohesion is an Program important constraint on reform efforts aimed at lowering social spending, but to Lord Skidelsky, the crisis of the Friday welfare state is still at heart a fiscal problem. He reminded Keynote Speech by Lord Dahrendorf: Squaring the Circle: us that social solidarity, protection and cohesion can be Competitiveness and Social Cohesion in Free Societies provided on many sub-state levels, and thus are not endangered by the efforts of governments to "denational- Saturday ize" welfare, which began in the early 1980s. Skidelsky l. Social Welfare Provision in East-Central Europe sees that the problem of the welfare state is its generation Chair: Mario Monti of chronic budget deficits. Solving this problem through Zsuzsa Ferge: Citizens' Expectations of Social Welfare higher taxes is not always an option because there is Leszek Balcerowicz, Vladimir Dlouhy: Dilemmas of pervasive resistance to paying higher taxes. The answer is Economic Development and Social Policy simply that spending must be cut, also since the services Kathie Krumm: Social Benefits, Growth and the state provides also undermine self-help, do not satisfy Poverty Reduction tastes and crowd out other state activities. Skidelsky also Comments: Alice Amsden advised that the idea that a welfare system is as wide or narrow as what people are willing to fund through taxes ll. Rethinking Social Welfare should be dismissed. There are other ways traditionally to Chair: Anna Fornalczyk provide welfare, such as through the voluntary and inter- Claus Offe: Remodeling Welfare lnstitutions in Western o mediate sector and private contribution. Skidelsky believes Europe: Problems and Policy Proposals we should learn to rely on them and ourselves again in Lord Skidelsky: Can We Afford the Welfare State? thinking about the welfare state for the millennium. Comments: Richard Freeman Kurt Biedenkopf, in his evening lecture to conclude the Joschka Fischer: Social Welfare in a Green Economy forum, offered an explanation for why a state-organized Comments: Ferdinand Lacina social system is more important in our current era than Keynote Speech by Kurt Biedenkopf: The Role of Social informal, smaller social groups and charities. ln a market- Welfare in Democratic Society oriented society, where individualism is highly developed and the life structure is competitive, smaller social groups that used to play an important function in social protection Participants of Economic are eroded. The increase in income, mobility and opportu- Helen Addison, Project Coordinator, The Social Costs Transformation in Central Europe (SOCO), lWM, Vienna; Al¡ce for individualism reduce the non-governmental nities Amsden, Professor of Political Economy, The Massachusetts lnstitute cohesion in society. People's anxiety rises since their of Technology, Cambridge, USA; Christoph Badelt, Professor of traditional bases of security are weakened. The state Economics, Department of Social Policy, lnstitute for Economic Theory system reacts to fill the deficit of security. and Politics, University of Economics, Vienna; currently Visiting Fellow at IWM; Leszek Balcerowicz, President of Poland's Freedom Party; Biedenkopf pointed out that this dynamic has had a Professor of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics; and former negative consequence, in that it has led to an ever- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland; Jan Barcz, increasing demand for more middle-class social benefits, Ambassador of the Republ¡c of Poland, Vienna; Tamas Bauer, the costs of which are unsustainable. To break this trend, Professor of Economics, Member of the Hungarian Parliament and Executive Director of the Alliance of Free Democrals of Hungary; o Biedenkopf recommended informing people of the link Rastislav Bednarik, Deputy Director, Research lnstitute of Labor, between welfare contribution payments and expenditures, Social Affairs and Family, Bratislava; Klaus Bender, Frankfurter that is, create complete transparency in the social system. Allgemeine Zeitung, Vienna; Kurt Biedenkopf, Prime Minister of (TERC), Only then can citizens judge whether better or less- Saxony; Nancy Blakestad, Project Coordinator IWM; Gottfried Boehm, Professor of Art History, University of Basel; Non- expensive alternatives to state provision exist, and only Resident Permanent Fellow at IWM; cunenlly Guest at IWM; Tito then can they react as responsible participants in a Boer¡, Directorate for Educalion, Employment, Labor and Social democratic decision making process. Affairs, OECD, Paris; Michal Boni, lnstitute of Public Affairs, Warsaw; former Minister of Labor and Social Policy of Poland; Robert Bosch, Chief of Mission, Royal Embassy of the , Vienna; Günther December 17 Social Policy Discussion Session, Chaloupek, Head of lhe Department of Economics Research, Austrian Chamber of Labor, Vienna; Jana Chalupova, Office of the Following the Fourth Central European Forum a group of President of the Czech Republic, ; Bohumil Chmelik, Head of decision makers and scholars met in the library of IWM to the Social Policy Commission of the Slovak Parliament, Christian discuss the political implications of social policy reform. Democratic Movement of Slovakia, Bratislava; Zofia Czepulis' The event was chaired by Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Butkowska, Advisor to the President of the Polish Alliance of Labor Minister of the Netherlands, and launched by the thought- Unions, Warsaw; Lord Dahrendorf, The Warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford; Peter Darvas, Research Associate, Hungarian provoking observations of lra Katznelson, Ruggles Profes- lnstitute for Educational Research; Department of Sociology, New York Political Science at Columbia University. sor of University; currently Research Fellow aÎ IWM; Vladimir Dlouhy, Minister of lndusfy and Trade of the Czech Republic; Uwe Engfer, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Technical University Please note the excerpts of the speeches given by Lord of Darmsladt; Zsuzsa Ferge, Head of the Department of Social Policy of Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest; Georg F¡scher, Advisor to the Biedenkopf and Joschka Fischer at the Dahrendod, Kurt Austrian Federal Minister of Finance; Joschka Fischer, Chairman of end of this Newsletter. the Parliamentary Faction of the Alliance 9o/Green Party of Germany; Anna Fornalczyk, Professor of Economics, Univers¡ty of Lodz and IWM-News/etfer 52 December 1995 - February 1996 Page 4

former Minister of Antimonopoly Activity of Poland; Richard Freeman, of Research, lnstitute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences; Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the London School President of the Foundation for the Research of Social Transformation of Economics; Jochen Fried, Head oJ Programs, IWM; Marek Gora, (START), Prague; lreneusz Witek, Graduale School of Social Director, Social Policy Reforms Program, lnst¡tute for Public Affairs, Research, Warsaw; Junior Visiting Fellow at IWM; Helena Wolekova, Warsaw; Olga Gyarfasova, Researcher, FOCUS - Center for Social former Minister for Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Analysis, Bratislava; Lajos Hethy, Secretary of Slate, Ministry of Labor Republic; Chair of the Social Policy Analysis Center (SPACE), of Hungary; Georg Hoffmann-Ostenhof, Profil, Vienna; Kamil Bratislava. Janacek, Chief Economist, Commercial Bank, Prague; former Deputy Minister for Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic; William Jordan, Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Work and Probation Studies, University of Exeter; currently European Chair for Social Policy, Comenius University, Bratislava; lra Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Sciénce and Constitutional Law at Junior Visiting Fellows Columbia University, New York; Jacek Kochanowicz, Professor of Economics at Warsaw University; currently Visiting Fellow at IWM; Lena Kolarska-Bobi¡ska, Director, Public Opinion Research Center Conference (CBOS), Warsaw; Malgorzata Kot, lnstitute for Public Affairs, Warsaw; Janos M. Kovacs, Professor of Economics and Permanent Fellow of November 24-25, 1995,|WM Library IWM; Member of the lnstitute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Kathie L. Krumm, Principal Economist, Europe and Central Asia Region, The World Bank, Washington D.C.; Ferdinand Lacina, former Federal Minister of Finance of ; Paul Lendvai, Radio For the first time a Junior Visiting Fellows Conference took Osterreich lnternational, Vienna; Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister place at lWM. The idea was to present the projects the of lhe Netherlands; Bernd Marin, Director, European Centre for Social 'luniors" have been working on during their |WM-stays in Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna; Friedrich Markart, Federation o of Ausfian lndustrialists, V¡enna; Petr Mateju, Director, Foundation for public and to discuss the results and theses of their work. the Research of Social Transformation (START), Prague; Daniel C. Jack Weinstein, Junior Visiting Fellow in his second -Matuszewski, President, lnternational Research and Exchanges semester and initiator of the conference not only had the Board, Washington, D.C.; Krzysztof Michãlski, Director and Perma- idea and organized the event from the initial conceptu- nent Fellow of the lnstitute for Human Sciences, Vienna; Professor of Philosophy at Boston University; Roza Milic-Czern¡ak, Professor of alization to the last cup of coffee, but is now preparing a Sociology, lnstitute of Sociology and Ph¡losophy, Polish Academy of book in which the thematically very heterogeneous papers Sciences, Warsaw; Mario Monti, Commissioner for the lnternal (as one can see from the program) are being presented in Market, European Commission, Brussels; Judith Nagy-Darvas, a revised and edited version. ln his opening speech Jack Sociologist, New York Univers¡ty; currently Junior Visiting Fellow at IWM; Klaus Nellen, Permanent Fellow at IWM; Claus Offe, Professor Weinstein said: of Sociology and Director of the lnstitute of Sociology at Humboldt University of ; Clar¡sse Pasztory, Department of Economic This conference was Policy, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber; Ronald Penton, Senior meant to be some- Lecturer, School of Social Work, Stockholm University; Martin Potucek, Director of the lnstitute of Sociological Studies, Charles thing different. University, Prague; Peter Pr¡adka, Department of Political Science, Something new, Comenius University, Bratislava; Dieter Proske, Economic Advisor, something which Austrian National Bank; Andrzej Przylebski, Philosopher and may have never Translator, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan; currently Visiting Fellow at IWM; Herta Rack, Deputy Head of the Policy Planning and been tried before. Beview Department of the Austrian Ministry of Labor and Social (This is, of course, to Affairs; lveta Radicova, Deputy Director, Academia lstropolitana; ignore the fact that it o Executive Director of the Social Policy Analysis Center (SPACE), is a conference and Bratislava; Martin Rhodes, Research Associate, Robert Schuman Center, European University lnslitute, Florence; Peter Bobert, Head of there are very many Besearch, TÁRK| - Social Research lnformatics Center, Budapest; conferences every Jack Weinstein Albrecht Rothacher, Representative of the Commiss¡on of the year-and that a European Union, Vienna; Jan Rutkowsk¡, Project Manager, Social conference can only be so different.) What makes this lmpact of Transition Project, The World Bank, Warsaw; Thomas Seng, Sociologist, University of Frankfurt; Joseph Schull, Deputy Director, difference, however, are the participants. You see, there Russia and Easlern Europe, lnternational Affairs Program, The Ford have been other attempts to mobilize the Junior Fellows Foundation, New York; Endre Sik, Professor of Sociology, Budapest and they have all been fairly good, certainly they have been University of Economics; Scientific Advisor, TÁRK| - Social Research well intentioned, but they were all, somehow-less. There lnformatics Center, Budapest; Lord Skidelsky, Chair of Pol¡tical Economy, Warwick Universily and Chair of the Social Market Founda- were seminars and weekly discussions, but they were all tion, London; Ewa Spychalska, President of the Polish Alliance of the same old thing. Seminars for the Junior Fellows are a Labor Unions, Warsaw; Hans Ste¡ner, Head of the Policy Planning and wonderful opportunity to talk about common interests, but Review Department of the Austrian Ministry of Labor and Social they are still somehow less. The institute gives us every- Affairs; Hannes Swoboda, Member of the Vienna Council; lvan Szelenyi, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of California, thing we need and most of what we want, but what I Los Angeles; cunently Visiling Fellow at IWM; Sona Szomolanyi, wanted was something more, something that presupposed Professor of Sociology, lnstitute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of success, competence, pride and most importantly, some- Sciences; Marton Tardos, Professor of Economics, Member of the thing which pushed us all to do our best for ourselves and Hungarian Parliament and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs in Hungary; Vojtech Tkac, State Secretary, our peers because it was do or die. Something which we Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic; were doing because we wanted to, because we were Theodor Tomandl, Professor of LaW lnstitute for Labor and Social interested in our research and proud of what we have Rights, University of Vienna; lstvan cyörgy Toth, Director, TÁRK| - done. Social Research lnformatics Center, Budapest; Jiri Vecernik, Director IWM-News/effer 52 December 1995 - February 1996 Page 15

tor, on "[email protected]". Messages for and certainly none of the perks which they had enjoyed distribution can also be sent to this address. before. The college had to reduce its activities, the hospital, to the present day, is dithering and at the point of closure and has changed its quality art of recognition. The com- pany is competitive, but a place which was the envy of many other cities has become an unhappy and difficult place, a problem place. Guestcontributions My first example is in many ways the example of the Anglo-American response to the challenge of competitive- ness. Competitiveness is made the main objective of Squaring the Circle private and public action; it is achieved by reductions in Competitiveness and Social Cohesion in Free Societies employment, by a high degree of labour market flexibility, by the reduction in nonwage labour cost, and, as a result, very often in public services; it leads to a reasonable and From the Keynote Speech given by Lord Dahrendorf at acceptable level of overall employment if one simply takes the Fourth Central European Forum in Vienna. the figures of those who have employment. But employ- ment has somehow changed its meaning. A significant I can see, with a simplification which I hope you will pardon portion of those who are employed have to be regarded as in a lecture, at least three different responses to the chal- what in American terminology would be called working o lenges of a world market as it is emerging in the 1990s or poor. lf one looks at Britain the equivalent would really be has perhaps already emerged in the 1980s. These three employment in part-time or short-term work-a develop- different responses can be described by telling the story of ment which has already led to a situation in the United three cities. I wish I had more time to tell the story in great- Kingdom in which we now have more employed women er detail, but I think you will get the point even by a few than men, but of course employed women in jobs which are hints; the cities are real. quite different from the ones to which traditionally both men One response to the challenge of prosperity and civility and women aspired. has not suffered in these in a world market reminds me of a city which I know well. lt countries, indeed, many of the changes that have taken is largely dominated by one manufacturer who is producing place were brought about by democratically elected engines. lt is a city of about 120,000 people, and a signi- goverment. But where has civil society gone? What has ficant proportion of the population is directly-one can happend to social cohesion? And here one could tell a sad almost say the whole population is or was indirectly- and worrying story. There is a new poverty, there is, affected by the fate of that particular company. The com- incidentally for the first time in decades, a massive in- pany was doing very well indeed. People moved into the crease in the gap between the highest and the lowest city, they earned good wages, and the company helped incomes. There is a growing number'of people who are in them in many other aspects of life, for example in providing uncertain and precarious employment, there is a 40-30-30 the necessary medical insurance which allowed the city to society in which only 40 per cent have jobs of the tradi- have a first-rate hospital with a wide range of services- tional kind, 30 per cent are very largely excluded, and the more services than might normally be expected in a city of middle 30 are in precarious employment. And this has o this size. The good wages meant that the children could go ratifications in many areas. Perhaps I can refer to some of to the college in the city. But the city had attract¡ons way them briefly as I go along. above and beyond the visible economic benefits of its large The second response to globalization takes me to one company. Famous architects were called in to build public of Europe's remarkable cities. Of similar size to the one buildings, tourists came to look at these buildings, and which I refered to as my first example, it is also, in fact, a indeed, when tourists and visitors came every now and city built around one industry, although not one company. again, the company would fly in a French chef to look after On the contrary, it has got a large number of companies, all the culinary needs of these visitors. of which are in one way or another involved in processing Then the moment came, over ten years ago, when the agricultural products. lndeed, some of them are involved in company suddenly realized that its position in the market producing these in the first place: the city is closely linked was not as safe as it had assumed. lt suddenly had to to the country around it. Some, on the other hand, are compete with companies in other parts of the world, no- producing the machinery which is needed for processing tably in Asia, and it found that it could not do so and at the the products. Everything produced is of high and indeed same time maintain the existing level of employment, the world-renowned quality. There is a certain uniqueness to existing level of wage costs, the existing level of perks and the products and there is no unemployment to speak of. lt non-wage costs, the general support for the community, is one of those close-knit communities where, if someone and a whole lot of things which used to go with that fails, others will pick up not only the pieces but the person particular company. At first five thousand-later another who failed. ln other words, it is very hard to fall through the five thousand-people were layed off. Many of them net even by bankruptcy or whatever the economic destiny actually found jobs. But they found jobs in which they of individuals may be. There is a local savings bank which earned, if they were lucky, about 60 per cent of what they is of critical importance for financing local needs of a civic had earned before; if they were unlucky, 50 or 40 per cent, effort, and thereby emphasizes the degree of cohesion. On IWM-News/etler 52 December 1995 - February 1996 Page 16

the whole, the city is widely envied for its wealth. Or at least Eastern Economic Review, to import chewing gum, to throw it was, because now something is happening which quite away cigarette ends, and if any of them should have the clearly is in some ways an effect of a new climate of idea that they want to vandalize a car they will end up competitiveness with a strong international aspect to it. being pained, probably in public, in cruel ways. Supermarkets begin to offer products which are not quite This sets out the problem before which I want to make as good as the ones produced in the city but which are my comments to the welfare state. And it is an extremly very much cheaper and which certainly find plenty of serious problem because it might apear that if you take the customers. lnitially, the city thought that it could laugh this three-competitiveness, social cohesion and political off because the products were, after all, not as good and liberty-you can only have two and not all three. And people would, in the end, go for quality. lncreasingly, the indeed, there are many people who seem to feel that you city discovers that that is not the case, and that the com- can only have two and not all three and that you have to peting cheaper products are taking away market shares. make a choice of two and sacrifice the third. I propose not And then it tries to react. But how? The city is proud, it is to accept such defeatism. I have used the notion of 'squar- pleased with its social cohesiveness, and it is certainly a ing the circle' because I know, like you, that this is some- democratic city because there is a strong corporatist thing which supposedly we know we cannot achieve, but element. The reaction takes two forms. One is a call for we can try and get pretty close to it. And I think we should protection in order to keep the uncomfortable competitors not despair in the face of the apparent probability that you out. And the other is a sense of frustration, fear and anger can only have competiveness and cohesion but no liberty, which can quite easily be translated into protest against or cohesion and liberty but no competitiveness, or the those who in some vague sense are held responsible for combination of competitiveness and liberty without cohe- o the apparent change in the city's fortunes. Any example is ston. too specific to make a general point fully. What I am trying to describe here is the Continental European situation. It is a very different basic predicament from the one which we are familiar with in Britain. The Continental European situation is marked by strong social cohesion, a corporatist arrangement between different groups of one kind or another, and democracy certainly. But competitive- ness is at risk. lncreasingly people realize-business people first, their employees soon after, and the general public also-that something has to be done to improve Zeitschrift des Hamburger competitiveness. And yet they hate it because they soon Instituts für Sozialf orschung ZygrnunlBauman realize that what has to be done is painful to them, painful Postmoderne Elh k above all to those aspects of their lives which have to do with social cohesion. Mittehveg 36 Now let me take a third city which is significantly larger. Competitiveness is no problem in this city. lndeed, it is Baseler Zeitwng, 12.1.1995: "Die often cited as a model for others. lt is one of the great seats 1992 am Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung gegründete Zeit- of both production and service companies in the world. schrift Mittelweg 36 ist die produk- Social cohesion is strong, although it is a curious kind of tive Antwort auf diese Flucht der social cohesion; it is not spontaneous. One would not, Sozialwissenschaften aus d,er Zeit. perhaps, describe it by a concept like'civil society'. lt is Scit 1992 zeigt die zweimonatlich produced from above, as it were, for example by the erscheinendc Zeitschrtft, wie sich moderne Soziologie am besten be- existence of a huge housing development corporation, ç's: währt: als Zeitdiagnose, als kriti- Zygmunt Bauman, Postmoderne which by now gives 80 per cent of the people an apartment sche Intervention auf politischerr Ethik. Aus dem Englischen von which they have to purchase and in which they have to live. Terrain. Unter glùcklichem Ver- Ulrich Bielcfeld und Edith Box- The corporation does this by distributing apartments within zicht auf Ausgewogenheit analy- berger. 384 Seiten, siert Mittelweg 36 vor allem poli- housing estates in accordance with the relative strength of DM s8.- /OS 453.- /SFr 55.- tisch bedenkliche Tcndenzcn im ; ethnic groups to the different groups which live in this city. ISBN 3 930908-22-0 wiedervereinigten Deutschland. " The city places great emphasis on making sure that these Die ferne und. vielLeicht utopische different groups live together. The state guides people, Aussicht auf eine Emanzipation des autonomen moralischen especially young people, to education and to jobs. Beyond Selbst bildeL die Crundlage aon Zyg- that the city has invented the curious institution of marriage Erschein¡ zweinonatlich zum Preis von 18 DM, im AbonneLlcnt 16 DM plus munt Baumans Erk.undungen d.er ships on which young graduates, male and female, are Versandkosten. Aboschrif rvcrkebr rrud h e utigen ge se lLsch aftlich en B e d.in- sent out for two weeks into the ocean. ln the expectation of Probehef tbestellun g an: gungen und, einer postmodernen Ve¡triel¡EXTRA the goverment the graduates are bound to breed gradu- Verlag,Langgassc24H Theorie der ethischen Grwndlage 65181 \ficsbaden moralischen HandeLns. ates, and if they spend enough time out on the ocean they Redakrion; Thomas Neur¡ann will probably come back with a future generation of obedi- (verantwortlich), G a6y ZrpleI Mittelweg 36, 20148 Hamburg ent graduate members of the community of the city. What Tel. 04O/ 4 I 4097 1 6 und 41,4097 32, the graduates are not allowed to do is to read lhe Far F¡x 040/41409711

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