The Evolution of Alienation

出版者:Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

作者:Lauren Langman

页数:332

出版时间:2005-11-18

价格:USD 49.00

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780742518353

具体描述

The Evolution of Alienation: Trauma, Promise and the Millennium presents a collection of essays that examine the prevalence of alienation in the contemporary world. Although the authors share a critical approach to society, their views of alienation vary. While some feel that alienation is inescapable under the conditions of late modernity, others see that especially at this time there are opportunities to overcome alienation. Testing their approaches, the authors touch on highly diverse domains of life. The book is divided into four sections, each with a focus on how alienation is produced and, perhaps, overcome. Part I presents theoretical approaches to "shifting views of alienation". Here the authors discuss how alienation is disclosed in social science, in technology, and in biological constructions of the human being. Part II deals with political consequences of alienation. The three chapters focus on how alienation can lead to fascist beliefs, how it functions in the development of authoritarian personalities, and how alienation is disclosed in teen-age violence, but also in the justice meted out to desperate teens, without compassion. Part III includes examinations of "alienation in identity, culture, and religion". Here, researchers discuss how the alienating conditions of globalization create alienated identities that are carnivalized in shock music and in exploitative television shows. The last chapter of this section sees in these developments evidence of our inability or unwillingness as social scientists to deal with transcendental values. Part IV focuses on phenomena from everyday life, showing how alienation undermines the advantages of community, and the intimacies of dialogue. Although the very concern with alienation shows awareness of trauma, there are, throughout the book, hints of promise - in technology, in loving and creative domesticity, in activism and through grass-roots initiatives in education. Through an interest in the cosmos human being may yet discover the way out

作者简介

Devorah Kalekin-Fishman is a senior researcher at the University of Haifa in Israel. Currently a member of the Executive of the International Sociological Association, she is past president of the ISA committee for Alienation Research and Theory. Dr. Kalekin-Fishman is the editor of the International Sociology Review of Books and serves on the editorial boards of Current Sociology, Intercultural Education, and the Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies. Recent publications include a critical analysis of Ideology, Policy, and Practice: Education for Immigrants and Minorities in Israel (Kluwer) and an edited volume, Designs for Alienation: Exploring Diverse Realities (Finland: SoPhi Press).

Lauren Langman is a professor of sociology at Loyola University of Chicago. He is past chairman of the Marxist Sociology of American Sociological Association and current President of Alienation Research and Theory, of the International Sociological Association. His recent publications include a special issue of American Behavioral Politics devoted to the presidency in a television age, the social psychology of nationalism for the Handbook of Nationalism, and alternative globalization movements in Sociological Theory.

用户评价

我必须承认，这本书的语言风格是我近几年接触到的文学作品中最具冲击力的之一。它不像某些当代小说那样追求极简和克制，相反，它充满了巴洛克式的华丽与张力，每一个句子都像是一件精心打磨过的、镶满了繁复饰物的艺术品。作者似乎毫不吝啬于使用那些在日常交流中早已被淘汰的、沉重而富有历史感的词汇，但奇怪的是，这些词汇组合在一起，非但没有造成阅读的障碍，反而为故事增添了一种厚重的、史诗般的质感。特别是对人物内心独白的描绘，简直达到了近乎癫狂的程度，那种情绪的层层叠加、矛盾的自我撕扯，通过长达数页的排比和反复咏叹，将人物的焦虑和痛苦烘托到了极致。读到某些段落时，我甚至感觉自己需要放慢呼吸，生怕稍微用力，那层薄薄的纸页就会被我阅读的热情所撕裂。这种阅读的“体力消耗”是巨大的，但这种消耗带来的精神满足感，是任何轻松愉快的读物都无法比拟的，它要求读者不仅是用眼睛看，更是用心灵去感受那些词语背后蕴藏的巨大能量。

关于人物塑造，这本书提供了一系列令人难忘的“非典型英雄”。这里的角色不是传统意义上的高尚或堕落，而是处于一种永恒的灰色地带，他们的动机复杂到几乎无法被单一的标签所概括。最让我印象深刻的是主角对于“责任”的逃避与承担之间的微妙拉扯。他既渴望逃离既定的命运，却又在关键时刻展现出一种近乎本能的道德义务感，这种内在的冲突让人物拥有了令人信服的真实感。作者没有给任何人戴上“圣人”或“恶棍”的桂冠，而是将他们置于极端情境之下，观察人性的真实反应。这些人物的对话充满了言外之意，很多关键信息是通过沉默、手势，甚至是通过他们选择不说什么来传达的，这要求读者必须成为一个高度敏锐的“解码人”。这种对人性的细致入微的洞察，使得即便是配角，也闪耀着复杂的光芒，让人感觉到他们每一个都拥有自己未被讲述的、同样跌宕起伏的生命故事。

从主题的探讨深度来看，这本书简直是一座思想的矿藏，它不断地挖掘那些我们习以为常却从未真正审视过的社会结构和人类本性中的那些隐秘的角落。作者似乎对现代文明的基石抱有一种根本性的怀疑，并通过一系列近乎寓言式的场景，对“进步”这个概念提出了尖锐的质疑。书中的世界观构建得极为彻底，每一个看似微小的社会规则背后，都隐藏着一套严密但令人不寒而栗的逻辑体系。我特别欣赏作者在不直接给出答案的情况下，巧妙地引导读者去思考那些宏大哲学命题的方式。例如，它通过对某个边缘群体命运的刻画，不动声色地探讨了“何为正常”的界限，以及权力是如何通过定义“异类”来巩固自身的合法性。这种深沉的批判力量，并非靠口号式的宣言来实现，而是渗透在每一个人物的选择和每一次环境的描摹之中，使得读者在合上书本之后，依旧会不断地反刍那些令人不安的画面和疑问，久久不能释怀。

这本书的配乐感极强，如果用听觉来描述，它更像是一部交响乐而非普通的叙事曲。在不同的场景中，作者精准地调动了不同的“音色”。例如，在描述城市中机械化运作的场景时，文字的节奏变得冰冷而精确，充满了金属的摩擦声和单调的重复感，仿佛是德彪西的印象派乐章中突然闯入的工业噪音。而当情节转向对个体记忆的追溯时，笔触立刻变得温暖、柔和，充满了拉赫玛尼诺夫式的忧郁和深情，仿佛是一段被尘封已久的大提琴独奏。这种声音与情感的精准对应，极大地增强了阅读的沉浸感。我甚至能在脑海中自动播放出符合场景情绪的背景音乐。这种对节奏的掌控，远超出了文字的范畴，它触及到了一种更原始的、与艺术形式相通的共鸣点。作者似乎深谙文学与音乐之间的互文关系，使得这部作品拥有了超越单纯文字叙述的立体感和多层次的感官体验。

这本书的叙事结构简直令人拍案叫绝，作者对时间线的处理简直如同鬼斧神工般的雕刻。我常常在阅读时，感觉自己被抛入了一个多维度的迷宫，每一个转折点都不是线性的推进，而是螺旋式的回溯与前瞻的交织。比如，在讲述主角童年阴影的章节，那种笔触的细腻和氛围的营造，让我几乎能闻到旧家具上积满灰尘的气味，以及感受到墙角投下的那道永恒不变的斜长影子。然而，这种复杂性也带来了挑战，有时我需要停下来，在脑海中重构事件发生的逻辑顺序，才能完全领会作者的深层意图。但正是这种需要读者投入心力的过程，使得最终的顿悟时刻显得格外震撼。它不是那种一目了然的畅快，而是一种需要努力攀登后才能俯瞰全景的壮阔，这种阅读体验是极其罕有的，显示了作者在构建宏大叙事框架时所具备的非凡野心和高超技巧。全书在处理多个并行的子故事线索时，那种线索之间的互相渗透、彼此映照的精妙布局，简直可以作为现代文学叙事技巧的教科书案例来研究，让人不禁赞叹作者驾驭复杂材料的能力。