ABSTRACT
Yet, if we go back the origins of civil society, Bauman reminds “men were destined to be happy, it seems, because the deepest source of their unhappiness was uncertainty; eliminate the uncertainty of existence, replace it with the certainty of need, however sad and painful it may be, and we are almost halfway there: the happy world of the establishment.” 1
Unlike Bauman, the French sociologist Robert Castel considers today’s society to be the safest society in which man has ever lived: “without doubt we are living [. . .] in the most secure societies than ever before.” 2 On the other hand, Steven Pinker assures us that violence is in decline. 3 Of course, they are both referring to the most advanced Western societies.
