BAUMAN,ZYGMUNT POSTMODERN TURN

Over the past decade, Zygmunt Bauman has published a series of books t hat sketch out a postmodern turn in society, theory, culture, ethics a nd politics. Changes in contemporary society and culture, Bauman argue s, require new modes of thought, morality and politics to appropriatel y respond to the new social conditions. This requires a reconfiguratio n of critical social theory and new tasks for a postmodern sociology. Bauman thus poses fundamental challenges to contemporary social theory and provides an original and provocative postmodern version of the so ciological imagination, developing sketches of the fundamental social and cultural changes of our time, and the ways that theory and politic s must be changed to creatively map and democratically respond to thes e questions. Bauman's critical reflections on modern theory and societ y, and his postmodern turn, require serious critical responses to his challenges to conventional wisdom and practice. In my study, I sketch out what I consider to be important in Bauman's recent work, what I se e as problematical, and how Bauman's project - that is also my own - m ight be advanced. While my focus might appear to be predominantly crit ical, I attempt to generate a constructive dialogue with his thought t hat will advance our mutual interests and perhaps help illuminate some interesting contemporary topics and debates.