Zygmunt Bauman’s sociology has often been seen as a bleak worldview; he has been called the ‘sociologist of misery’. This article argues that assigning pessimism and misery to Bauman’s work relies on a reading which does not fully consider his sociology of morality. When this is accounted for, Bauman can be seen to have a very optimistic worldview. The significance of such an observation rests on where Bauman’s optimism lies—namely in the hands of inevitably moral individuals who can acquiesce to, (...) reject or modify the demands of liquid modernity. This article argues, with reference to G.H. Mead’s concept of the ‘genius’, that this is where the potential for agency lies in Bauman’s conception of liquid modernity. This is given a political dimension by both Mead and Bauman’s advocacy of democratic forms to help realise this agency. Democracy operates as a ‘societal’ form of morality which builds upon Bauman’s ‘pre-societal’ discussion. (shrink)

Deceased in January this year, the Polish-British sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has left an extremely rich scholarly legacy. In one of his last academic interviews, he refers to the key issues which had been the subject of his in-depth analysis for many years. Bauman starts with reflections on the gap between political authority and power. Next, given his long-standing research into ‘liquid modernity’, he focuses on the vitality of capitalism, which has now adopted a lighter, consumer form. Another thread of the (...) interview is Bauman’s own research attitude, which he refers to as ‘sociological hermeneutics’. It is characterized by his reluctance to use any ‘-isms’ and a profound mistrust of all particular schools of research which could limit creative freedom. In the final part of the interview, Bauman highlights the problem of the social entanglement of intellectuals. (shrink)

All humanities, sociology included, are meeting places of stories told about stories. This circumstance casts humanities in a situation radically and irretrievably different from that of `hard sciences', which cast their objects as nature. Through most of its history sociology was oriented towards collectively produced and maintained order: its task was to enlighten the legislators and supervisors of order. With the substitution of life-politics for Politics with a capital `P', deregulation and privatization of ordering activity, enlightenment of autonomous subjects moves (...) to the centre of sociological vocation. (shrink)

Of sex, eroticism and love, the first is natural and limited in its forms, while the other two are cultural products infinite in their expressions and applications. The history of eroticism is, essentially, a history of changing border conflicts and shifting alliances between the three members of the triad. The postmodern novelty is emancipation of eroticism from both sexual reproduction and love - and setting it free to perform a variety of new tasks. A crucial one among these is the (...) renegotiation of social relations inside the family and in public space, as well as new forms of identity building. (shrink)