Keith Tester & Zygmunt Bauman 
Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman 

Zygmunt Bauman is one of the leading figures in contemporary social
thought. His work ranges across issues of ethics, culture and
politics. It never forgets that social thought ought to help men
and women make sense of their lives and aspire towards something
different. His books and essays always focus on the here and now:
violence and moral indifference, globalization, consumerism,
politics and individualization. They cast a sharp eye on the
panaceas of ‘there is no alternative’; the embrace of
community and the fads of the ‘counselling boom’; through
which men and women are told that they can achieve biographical
solutions to what are, in fact, systemic problems.

In this new book, Zygmunt Bauman and Keith Tester engage in five
accessible conversations that uncover and explore the assumptions
and commitments underpinning Bauman’s ground-breaking social
thought. The conversations show how those commitments have
influenced Bauman’s analyses of modernity, postmodernity and
‘liquid modernity’. The book ranges widely, from
autobiographical reflection through to pointers for the
understanding and future of Bauman’s social thought. The
conversations illustrate the moral substance of Bauman’s refusal to
accept that the world cannot be made different. They show why
social thought is a human necessity.

Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman is a book which will
offer fresh insight into Bauman’s work for those who are familiar
with it, and provide an engaging and helpful entry point for those
who are new to it.

Tabella dei contenuti

Preface.

Introduction.

Conversation 1: Context and Sociological Horizons.

Conversation 2: Ethics and Human Values.

Conversation 3: The Ambivalence of Modernity.

Conversation 4: Individualization and Consumer Society.

Conversation 5: Politics.

Notes.

Bibliography

Circa l’autore

Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017) was Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the
Universities of Leeds and Warsaw

Keith Tester is Professor of Social Theory, University of
Portsmouth