Items related to Mortality, Immortality and Other Life Strategies
Zygmunt Bauman's new book is a brilliant exploration, from a sociological point of view, of the 'taboo' subject in modern societies: death and dying. The book develops a new theory of the ways in which human mortality is reacted to, and dealt with, in social institutions and culture. The hypothesis explored in the book is that the necessity of human beings to live with the constant awareness of death accounts for crucial aspects of the social organization of all known societies. Two different 'life strategies' are distinguished in respect of reactions to mortality. One, 'the modern strategy', deconstructs mortality by translating the insoluble issue of death into many specific problems of health and disease which are 'soluble in principle'. The 'post-modern strategy' is one of deconstructing immortality: life is transformed into a constant rehearsal of 'reversible death', a substitution of 'temporary disappearance' for the irrevocable termination of life. This profound and provocative book will appeal to a wide audience. It will also be of particular interest to students and professionals in the areas of sociology, anthropology, theology and philosophy.
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Review:
'Characteristically perceptive ... this indispensable book shines harsh X-rays through the western body politic to reveal a skeleton in the closet of recent social history.' New Statesman and Society 'A brilliant, outstanding book.' Manna 'A fascinating, and at times novel, interpretation of the cultural meanings of death.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bauman's work taken as a whole adds up to a formidable analysis and critique of modernity and its complement.' Social History of Medicine 'Those who find pleasure ... in decoding the references, in pursuing ideas in a playful way, in enjoying once again the old academic wit and style, in exposing contradictions in our feeble settlements and cultural rapprochernents will enjoy it enormously.' Reviewing Sociology
About the Author:
Zygmunt Bauman is the author of a number of other books including the extremely successful Modernity and the Holocaust (Polity, 1989) which won the 1989 European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Theory, and Modernity and Ambivalence (Polity, 1991). He was also awarded the Theodor W. Adorno prize for 1998.
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- PublisherPolity Press
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 0745609406
- ISBN 13 9780745609409
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages224
- Rating
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