Culture, modernity, and revolution : essays in honour of Zygmunt Bauman

In Culture, Modernity and Revolution a group of distinguished sociologists and social philosophers reflect upon the major concerns of Zygmunt Bauman. Their essays not only honour the man, but provide important contributions to the three interlinked themes that could be said to form the guiding threads of Bauman's life work: power, culture and modernity. Culture, Modernity and Revolution is both a remarkable sociological commentary on the problems facing East-Central Europe and an exposition of some of the key, hitherto neglected, features of the modern cultural universe. Social Sciences Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 Notes on contributors 8 Acknowledgements 12 INTRODUCTION: INTELLECTUAL MIGRATION AND SOCIOLOGICAL INSIGHT 14 THE CULTURAL PROGRAMME OF MODERNITY AND DEMOCRACY: SOME TENSIONS AND PROBLEMS 38 THREE ASPECTS OF MODERNITY IN SIMMEL'S PHILOSOPHIE DES GELDES: ITS EPIPHANIC SIGNIFICANCE, THE CENTRALITY OF MONEY AND THE PREVALENCE OF ALIENATION 55 TECHNOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 79 OMNIVOROUS MODERNITY 115 THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1989 IN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE IDEA OF REVOLUTION 140 PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF A SOCIALIST ECONOMY IN EUROPE 167 THE SOCIAL ROLE OF EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALS RECONSIDERED 179 A NEW MIDDLE CLASS? 197 DEMOCRACY VERSUS A NEW AUTHORITARIANISM IN EASTERN EUROPE 214 ADDENDUM: CULTURE AND POWER IN THE WRITINGS OF ZYGMUNT BAUMAN 228 Bibliography of the works of Zygmunt Bauman 261 References 274 Name index 290 Subject index 293 In Culture, Modernity and Revolution a group of distinguished sociologists and social philosophers reflect upon the major concerns of Zygmunt Bauman. In doing so they also make a remarkable commentary on East Central Europe. In honouring Zygmunt Bauman, who occupied the Chair of Sociology at the University of Leeds from 1971 to 1990 and whose seventieth birthday falls this year, this volume departs from the customary format of the Festschrift.