齐格蒙特·鲍曼“新穷人”理论研究

Study on Zygmunt Bowman’s “New Poor”

摘要: 鲍曼被誉为“后现代性的预言家”，其《工作、消费主义、新穷人》提出了在发达资本主义消费者社会下的“新穷人”概念。新穷人指的是“有缺陷的消费者”，鲍曼通过对社会结构的考察，指出新穷人遭遇精神失落与肉体流放等社会剥夺，并提出以“工艺伦理取代工业伦理”的解放口号。鲍曼对发达资本主义时期消费文化痼疾的诊治，从消费审美塑造、工作伦理等社会观念角度，从生产角度考察贫困的视角，反思批判现代性过程中出现的问题。鲍曼的“新穷人”理论从主体性维度入手，丰富了以往法兰克福学派和鲍德里亚等从商品符号和物质世界的客体性维度展开对消费社会的批判。但同样需要指出，鲍曼解放穷人的路径存在缺乏现实路径的“乌托邦”色彩、漠视穷人的能动性的消极色彩。鲍曼对于“新穷人”的洞察，使我们反思了“本该是促进人的自由的”消费对于个人自由的限制，消费文化和商品崇拜使人们陷入了物质追求的循环，剥夺了个体的自主权和真正的自由。这些思想让我们反思当前社会的问题，并激发我们思考如何建立一个更公正、平等和可持续的社会。

Abstract: Bowman is known as “the prophet of post-modernity”. His book Work, Consumerism and the New Poor put forward the concept of “the new poor” in the advanced capitalist consumer society. By “New poor,” he means “Defective consumers,” and Bowman examines the social structure of the new poor, pointing out that they suffer from social deprivation such as mental loss and physical exile, and put forward the emancipation slogan of “technology ethics replace industrial ethics”. Bowman’s diagnosis and treatment of the ills of consumption culture in the period of developed capitalism, from the perspective of social concepts such as the shaping of consumption aesthetics and work ethics, and from the perspective of production to examine poverty, reflects on and criticizes moder-nity. Starting from the subjective dimension, Frankfurt School and Baudrillard criticize the con-sumer society from the objective dimension of the commodity symbol and the material world. But it is also important to point out that Bowman’s approach to liberating the poor has a utopian dimen-sion that lacks a realistic approach and a negative dimension that ignores the initiative of the poor. Bowman’s insight into the “New poor” leads us to reflect on the limitations of consumption on per-sonal freedom that “should promote human freedom.” Consumer culture and commodity worship trap people in a cycle of material pursuit, it deprives the individual of autonomy and true freedom. These thoughts make us reflect on the problems of our society and inspire us to think about how to build a more just, equitable and sustainable society.