Full Description
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.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction Beyond Bauman
- Critical Engagements and Creative Excursions with a Contemporary Sociological Icon(oclast)
Michael Hviid Jacobsen
Chapter 1 Aesthetic and Relational Ethics
- Beyond Bauman's Postmodern Ethics
Nicholas Hookway and Douglas Ezzy
Chapter 2 Voice and the Generalized Other in the Ethical Writings of Zygmunt Bauman
Shaun Best
Chapter 3 Race, Imperialism and Gender in Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology
- Partial Absences, Serious Consequences
Ali Rattansi
Chapter 4 The Inevitable Clerisy
- A Postsecular Critique of Zygmunt Bauman
John Milbank
Chapter 5 Critical Theory Old and New
- Theodor W. Adorno Meets Zygmunt Bauman in the Shopping Mall
Michael Hviid Jacobsen & Claus D. Hansen
Chapter 6 Not Yet
- Probing the Potentials and Problems in the Utopian Understandings of Ernst Bloch and Zygmunt Bauman
Martin Aidnik & Michael Hviid Jacobsen
Chapter 7 Exploring Modernity's Hidden Agenda in Europe
- The Complementary Contributions of Zygmunt Bauman and Ernest Gellner
Dennis Smith
Chapter 8 "Getting to Norway"
- Do We Need to Go Beyond Zygmunt Bauman and Pierre Bourdieu in Order to Understand Contemporary Norwegian Society?
Rune Åkvik Nilsen
Chapter 9 Overcritique and Ambiguity in Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology
- A Long-Term Perspective
Richard Kilminster
Chapter 10 Keeping Other Options Alive
- Zygmunt Bauman, Hermeneutics and Sociological Alternatives
Matt Dawson
Chapter 11 Paradoxes and Ambivalences of Liquid Modernity
- Zygmunt Bauman and the Peculiar Solidity of Liquidity
Michael Hviid Jacobsen
