I woke up early before an interview this morning. I discovered a new YouTube channel, which is the joy of modern joys when you’re 42, fat, some form of addict, and childless. Welcome to it, baby. It’s called Wisecrack and I found this video on “the real reason no one has any friends anymore,” a topic near and dear to my writing:
I’m pretty tuned in on bullshit social science theories, so I was suprised in this video when I heard the concept of “liquid modernity.” Turning to Google, I then found this definition:
The concept of liquid modernity was coined by the sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman as a metaphor to describe the condition of constant mobility and change he sees in relationships, identities, and global economics within contemporary society.
At some level, I could see this being true. I think there are definitely a lot of shifts in identity at a large scale, and I do think people trade up, down, and in around relationships based on where they’re at in life presently. The biggest factors here would be age, geography, age of kids, number of kids, and any “disruptors” i.e. divorce, addiction, mental health concerns, etc.
At the same time, though, we’ve had this narrative in America for a few years that people aren’t moving and there’s a general sense of social stagnation. I am not sure if that’s a media-driven narrative or one borne out by true facts. I know that based on out-of-state zip code relocations, it does seem like Americans are moving less than before. I’ve always thought the “failure to launch” narrative was something old white guys who like Tucker Carlson said to make themselves feel better about their lot in life, without paradoxically realizing that they themselves raised the children who are now failing to launch. Ah, sweet irony.
But maybe … maybe we are moving around and shifting groups and identities a lot more than is being reported. Maybe liquid modernity is a true thing.
The guy behind this theory said this:
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