The Social Thought of Zygmunt Bauman

by Simon Löffler

Overview

Tester (cultural sociology, U. of Portsmouth) explores the thinking of sociologist Bauman, whose Polish family escaped the Nazis by moving to the Soviet Union, where in later years he was expelled first from the army and then academia during anti-Semitic purges, and ended up teaching in England until his retirement in 1990. Among the topics are critical thinking and human possibility, utopian and cultural socialism, communism and modernity, the Holocaust, and sociology and the challenge of globalization. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349511334
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2004
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Keith Tester is Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Portsmouth. He is the author of a number of books and co-author of Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	viii
	Introduction	1
1	Critical Thinking and Human Possibility	12
2	The Emergence of an Imagination	34
3	Socialism: Utopian and Cultural	58
4	Communism and Modernity	82
5	The Holocaust	107
6	Postmodernity: Ethical Incentive, Indifferent World	131
7	Sociology and the Challenge of Globalisation	157
	References	183
	Index	193

Editorial Reviews

'Nobody understands Zygmunt Bauman better than Keith Tester. Tester constructs a dialogue with Bauman, on his own terrain. The result is a hermeneutic personal and sociological at the same time. Bauman emerges from these pages as the persistent advocate of the good society and of human dignity. This is critical sociology at its best.' - Peter Beilharz, Director, Thesis Eleven Centre for Critical Theory, La Trobe University, Australia

From the Publisher