Intimations of postmodernity / Zygmunt Bauman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Legislators and interpreters: culture as the ideology of intellectuals -- Sociological responses to postmodernity -- The changing discursive formation of sociology -- Is there a postmodern sociology? -- Philosophical affinities of postmodern sociology -- The world according to Jean Baudrillard -- Communism : a postmortem -- Living without an alternative -- A sociological theory of postmodernity -- Appendix: an interview with Zygmunt Bauman, Richard Kilminster and Ian Varcoe.

"Postmodernism captured the imagination of sociologists, philosophers, political scientists and writers on culture in the 1980s. Society was said to have moved into a new phase which left many of our old assumptions forlorn and impotent. Zygmunt Bauman was a leading contributor to the debate. In Intimations of Postmodernity, Bauman sets out his essential ideas on the sociological and philosophical antecedents of postmodernity. He shows us how to use the concept without falling into the snares of introspective nihilism or mindless euphoria. Where other writers have bogged themselves down in abstract discussion, Bauman shows us how to use the concept concretely. Lucid and intelligent, this book makes a major contribution to the growing literature on postmodernism. It will be of interest to sociologists, philosophers, political scientists, and students of culture, and will become a model for future studies of postmodernism."--Publisher description.

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