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Liquid Modernity What Is It and How Does It Play a Role in the Lives of Young People?

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Liquid Modernity What Is It and How Does It Play a Role in the Lives of Young People? CHAPTER2 Liquid Modernity What Is It and How Does It Play a Role in the Lives of Young People? I mean, greedy people will do whatever they need to for prizes or for money, and I guess they could change their personality, be friends with people they wouldn’t, do whatever they need to get the prize. John, age 14 ⸪ This chapter will explore and explain Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity and relate how it is linked to reality television and the lives of young people. I will work to spell out the ways in which our lives have changed since the modern and post-modern times and make clear why this is a troubling time to be living in as a young person. While some may argue that Bauman is wrong in classifying the present day as that of a liquid modern world, I argue that he is correct. Today’s world lacks private spaces and we have blurred the lines between public and private life. Our lives are in a constant, unquestioned state of surveillance and we often take part in this surveillance by grossly oversharing every detail of our lives and having a complete disregard for secrets or sacred knowledge. The liquid modern world lacks a feeling of community and we are seeing the disintegration of the social network. All of these conditions have led to overarching insensitivity and a lack of solid bonds that perpetuate the notion of disposability and a society of consumption. Liquid modern times are frightening times to be living in. We inhabit a place where there is no concern for the people in and around our lives. We keep ourselves numb and in an ever-present cycle of consumption, all while functioning without solid, sacred bonds around us. 1 What Is Liquid Modernity? This study was framed by Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity. Bauman describes the liquid modern era as a time “in which time flows, but no longer marches on. There is constant change, but no finishing point” (2007b,p.121). Thus, those of us living in this epoch are experiencing a time that © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004376670_002 Liquid Modernity 23 is wildly different from early, solid modernity. No longer are there important oppositions that aid in understanding and defining life as we know it; instead, we live in a time when, for Bauman, creation and destruction are the same. Bauman defines this time as liquid modernity because of the fluid nature of our world. Our lives are constantly in flux as we flow through a world made up of disposable people and things. This notion of disposability contributes to a feeling of a lack of community and solid bonds, a disintegration of the social network and a lack of sensitivity to issues surrounding us. No longer do we long for privacy and secrecy, but rather we overshare all details of our worlds and willingly acquiesce to constant surveillance – often surveilling ourselves. The fluid notion of our world at this time should be seen as problematic, especially for young people who are trying to make sense of themselves and their surroundings. I have the utmost respect for the work of Zygmunt Bauman and the ways in which he works to understand life and explicate his thinking to the world. As Leonidas Donskis explains, “Bauman’s sociology is above all a sociology of the imagination, of feelings, of human relations – love, friendship, despair, indifference, insensitivity – and of intimate experience” (2013, p.1). Bauman’s ability to take the state of our world and make his reader not only think critically and reflect, but also feel something (which is sometimes uncomfortable) speaks to his ability to analyze society and the liquid state that it is in. Bauman aims to make his work for and about the ‘little man’: the people who have been affected most deeply by this liquid shift and thus, those who are most often forgotten. 2 Lack of Solid Bonds Because there is no longer a beginning or an end but rather a “society in which networks replace structures, and an uninterrupted game of connecting to and disconnecting from those networks” (Bauman, 2011, p. 14), we are engrossed in a time where we do not stand still long enough to make any solid bonds. As Bauman says, there is no longer any “determination, allegiance and belonging” (p. 14). Not only do these bonds no longer exist, but Bauman would go so far as to say that long-term connections of any kind are frowned upon in the liquid modern era. This constant movement and refashioning of ourselves and our world, along with the lack of any feeling of belonging, has resulted in human bonds being seen as a threat, rather than as something positive. This lack of solid bonds is compounded by our relationship with technology and how we are eager to turn to a screen before we turn to anyone in our real lives. When .
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