Book, Community: the search for security in today's world[LS]

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. With his renowned brilliance, Zygmunt Bauman offers a more than ever necessary revision of the concept of community, which has become central to current debates about the nature and future of our societies. “Community” is one of those words that convey a pleasant feeling: it is good to “belong to a community”, “to be in a community”. We associate with it images of a cozy place, where we can take refuge from the threats that lurk “out there”, and of a world in which we would like to live, but which, unfortunately, does not exist. In other words, “community” is now a new name for a lost paradise—but a paradise we still seek, and hope to find. However, in exchange for the promised security, community life seems to deprive us of freedom, of the right to be ourselves. Security and freedom are two equally precious values, which can be balanced, but not completely reconciled. The tension between them — and between community and individuality — is unlikely to be undone. It is not possible to escape the dilemma, but we can evaluate opportunities and dangers to try to avoid past mistakes. That's what Zygmunt Bauman does in this book.