This timely book provides the definitive concise introduction to Zygmunt Bauman. A well-written text, it assumes no prior knowledge of his work and will appeal to those wishing to explore the ideas of one of the world's most wide-ranging thinkers.

In this ground-breaking book, Shaun Best analyses the intellectual knowledge production of Zygmunt Bauman and his rise to academic stardom in the English speaking world by evaluating the relation between his biography, the contexts in which he found himself, and why his intellectual creativity is admired by so many people. Bauman has an interesting 'contested' biography and underwent a number of intellectual shifts from the early stages of his academic career as Marxist. Bauman moved on and for almost ten years he was associated with 'postmodernity' (from 1989-1997) but in 2000 he decided to distance himself from postmodernism and rebrand his approach to understanding the contemporary world as 'liquid modernity'. Best shows how Bauman developed his canonised status becoming an intellectual guru in the UK and in Australia despite being largely ignored by the academic community in the United States and Central Europe. Rather than investigating Bauman's academic output as a demonstration of his 'creative genius', Best argues that most academic output involves the interplay of multiple factors and this book evaluates the influences on both intellectual choices and the social factors or contexts that led Bauman to attach himself to different sets of ideas during his academic career.

Bringing together leading interpreters of Zygmunt Bauman’s sociology, this volume thinks with and beyond Bauman’s work in order to show its continued relevance as a theory in its own right, as an object of criticism and as a stepping stone towards a fuller understanding of contemporary society. The volume deals with some proposed omissions and absences in Bauman’s sociology, with chapters comparing Bauman’s ideas to those of other prominent social thinkers as well as chapters devoted to teasing out some problems and pitfalls in his work. Paying attention to central concepts and themes of Bauman’s thought, authors engage with various aspects of his work, considering potential deficiencies in his ethical perspective, his neglect of the religious dimensions of modernity, his lack of consideration for ethnicity and gender, his overlooking the importance of socialisation in liquid modernity and his problematic argument for individual choice and freedom in a world that is increasingly closed down by consumer capitalism. Beyond Bauman aspires to show that despite Bauman's status as a key sociological thinker, there are also certain deficiencies in his work demand critical discussion. It will be of use to scholars of sociology, contemporary society, social theory and modernity.

Zygmunt Bauman on Education in Liquid Modernity evaluates the contribution that Bauman has made to education studies. It outlines the central themes within social analysis in Bauman’s writings, and examines how researchers have applied his key ideas to explore current theoretical issues. The book focuses on Bauman’s ideas in relation to the management and consumption of education, including topics such as student voice and individual identity; relationships and inclusive education. Identifying and discussing underpinning assumptions about Bauman’s work and its application to education, the book addresses the connection between his work and wider debates, providing a critical and clarifying re-examination of Bauman’s contribution to the role of education within solid, post and liquid modernity. This book will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students of education theory and the sociology of education. It will be of great interest to readers seeking a critical appreciation and application of Bauman’s work to an educational context and Bauman scholars interested in the application of contemporary social theory to education and its role in identity formation in areas such as sex and relationships education.

This text covers Bauman’s contribution to sociology and social theory. This ideal teaching text analyzes Bauman's shift from a sociology of postmodernity to liquid modernity, and provides a critical assessment of the contemporary Bauman, appraising his novel theory of liquid modernity in terms of its implications for self-identity, interpersonal relationships, culture, communications, and the broad-ranging institutional transformations associated with globalization. In addition to various extracts from Bauman's work, the book also contains a spirited reply from Zygmunt Bauman to both his sympathetic and unsympathetic critics. Bauman concludes by providing a new perspectives on his theory of liquid modernity, its differentiation from the modernity/postmodernity debate and its relation to current developments in contemporary social theory.

Zygmunt Bauman was both an outsider of Western modernity and one of its foremost interpreters. He was an exemplary figure in twentieth-century intellectual work on exile who experienced both Nazi and Soviet forms of totalitarianism. The first work to draw extensively on Bauman’s personal archive, Zygmunt Bauman and the West argues that the distinctive social thought that sprang from Bauman’s lived experiences of exile amounts to a sustained, sophisticated, and hitherto unappreciated problematization of Eurocentrism and the West. Through an overview of the intellectual’s thought and his contribution to sociology, Jack Palmer explores Bauman’s experience and interpretation of the West and seeks to understand his work in a broader context, outside of the Eurocentric environment from which it was born. Intervening in a resurgent sociology of intellectuals, Zygmunt Bauman and the West re-evaluates the place of the West in social and political thought.

Zygmunt Bauman is one of the most inspirational and controversial thinkers on the scene of contemporary sociology. For several decades he has provided compelling analyses and diagnoses of a vast variety of aspects of modern and liquid modern living. This book considers the theoretical significance of his contribution to sociology, but also discusses and adopts a critical stance towards his work. The Sociology of Zygmunt Bauman introduces and critically appraises some of the most significant as well as some of the lesser known of Bauman's contributions to contemporary sociology. An international team of scholars delineates and discusses how Bauman's treatment of these themes challenges conventional wisdom in sociology, thereby revising and revitalizing sociological theory. As a special feature, the book concludes with Bauman's intriguing reflections and contemplations on his own life and intellectual trajectory, published here for the first time in English. In this postscript aptly entitled 'Pro Domo Sua' ('About Myself'), he describes the pushes and pulls that throughout the years have shaped his thinking.

This edited volume will illustrate the continuing interest in Bauman’s work through a number of chapters each dealing with the important aspects of his work and shedding light on some new angles and perspectives on his life and work. It seeks to position Bauman within the field of sociology and to provide some examples of his lasting contribution to and relevance for the discipline. Bauman’s ideas remain an important source of inspiration for many scholars and researchers working within a variety of different fields and sub-fields, appealing equally to empirical work and theoretical elaboration. This book contains ten chapters, and all chapters are devoted to the presentation and discussion of themes and ideas that were characteristic of Bauman’s way of doing and writing. The purpose of this volume – as with the other volumes published in the Anthem Press ‘Companion to Sociology’ series – is to provide a comprehensive overview of Zygmunt Bauman’s continued importance within the field of sociology and related social science disciplines.

Zygmunt Bauman is one of the most important contemporary social thinkers. He has changed the way we think about the Holocaust, postmodernity and globalisation. This is the first book to discuss all of Bauman's work, from the first essays in post-Stalinist Poland, through to his participation in 1960s Marxist revisionism, and up to the work for which he is well known in the West. Bauman's work is put into its social and historical context, and it is shown why Bauman matters.

This book is the first introductory guide to the work of Zygmunt Bauman, designed specifically for students and those new to his work. It provides a firm foundation for the independent reading of Bauman and for exploring the many interpretations of his influential ideas.