Person
Zygmunt Bauman
Society & Politics
Philosophy & Ethics
Culture & IdentityWho is Zygmunt Bauman in the Agency editorial?
Zygmunt Bauman was a Polish sociologist and philosopher, known for the idea of liquid modernity. In the Agency editorial, Issue.6 presents him as the thinker who identified the problems of society in our era and quotes his book Liquid Times twice, and MetaMarketing.1 quotes the same passage, with a footnote, to describe the liquid reality we live in.
In short
Zygmunt Bauman, the Polish sociologist and philosopher of liquid modernity, is quoted in two editions of the Agency editorial. In Issue.6, in the section subtitled with the question of how solid the reader is, the author introduces him as a counterpoint to Nietzsche, a philosopher who used his intellectual capacities to identify the problems of society in our era, and says that he coined the term Liquid Modernity. Two passages from Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty (2007) follow as credited quotations, one about "the transition from the solidity of Modernism to the liquidity of Post-Modernism" and one about the modern variety of insecurity. The author concludes that, with liquidity all around, people have a hard time trusting things. MetaMarketing.1 repeats the first passage in its account of Postmodernism and Metamodernism, calls Bauman a contemporary philosopher and gives the book in a numbered note.
Key facts
- How does Issue.6 introduce Bauman?
- As a perfect counterpoint to Nietzsche: a philosopher and long-time sociologist who identified what was happening to post-modern society with the advent of connectivity in the information age, and who coined the term Liquid Modernity.
- Which book of his do the editions quote?
- Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty, with the year 2007. Issue.6 gives it as the credit of two quotations; MetaMarketing.1 gives it in its third note, with the publisher Zahar.
- What does the author draw from the quotations?
- In Issue.6, that things move so fast that people cannot find something to cling to and have a hard time trusting. In MetaMarketing.1, that society lives in a digital and liquid reality that calls for a new set of rules.
Who is Zygmunt Bauman?
Zygmunt Bauman was a sociologist and philosopher born in Poland in 1925, who died in 2017. He taught for many years at the University of Leeds, in England, and is known for the concept of liquid modernity, the title of a book he published in 2000. These facts come from outside the editions and are marked for verification.
How does Zygmunt Bauman appear in the Agency editorial?
Issue.6 deals with time and consumer psychology. After a passage on Nietzsche, the author brings in Bauman as the one who diagnosed the present, and reproduces two quotations credited to Liquid Times. The first describes social organizations that cannot keep their form for long because they dissolve faster than it takes to mold them. The second describes an insecurity marked by suspicion of other people and their intentions. The author restates both in his own words: social, economic and production relations are fragile, fleeting and malleable, like liquids, and people lack the energy to think and to judge.
MetaMarketing.1, an article on ESG, quotes the first of those passages again inside its definition of Metamodernism. There Bauman is called a contemporary philosopher who studied Post-Modernism and how human relationships unfold in it, and the source is given in a note at the end. In both editions he is a quoted authority; neither discusses his life or his other books.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
- Issue.6 - Time & Consumer Psychology In CrisisRead the edition
- MetaMarketing.1 - Time to ESGRead the edition