Liquid modernity

Zygmunt Bauman says that liquid modernity, not unlike postmodernity, is a time of 'interregnum'. It is the one in which existing institutions, because of 'deregulation, fragmentation and privatization', have been denuded of larger visions and the capacity to bring about change, resulting in a profound loss of trust in dominant institutions. The two key features of the liquid phase of modernity for Bauman are globalisation and individualisation. Bauman's analyses of these interrelated phenomena are generally economistic, a point endorsed by Tester in his well-informed exegesis of Bauman's social thought. In Liquid Fear, Bauman introduces the notion of 'negative globalization'. This refers to the forced opening-up of all societies, including the poorest ones, to 'open market forces', whether they think this is best for their populations or not. Bauman argues that the corrosion of trust consequent upon growing insecurity, the invasion of the market and individualisation has profound ethical consequences.

Aesthetics · Art · Environmental ethics · Globalization · Interregnum · Modernity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Postmodernity · Sociology · Vision · Anthropology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Philosophy · Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology