Modernity and Ambivalence

Modern civilization, Bauman argues, promised to make our lives understandable and open to our control. This has not happened and today we no longer believe it ever will. In this book, now available in paperback, Bauman argues that our postmodern age is the time for reconciliation with ambivalence, we must learn how to live in an incurably ambiguous world. Introduction.

1. The Scandal of Ambivalence.

2. Social Construction of Ambivalence.

3. Self-Construction of Ambivalence.

4. A Case Study in the Sociology of Assimilation (I):.

Trapped in Ambivalence.

5. A Case Study in the Sociology of Assimilation (II):.

Revenge of Ambivalence.

6. Privatization of Ambivalence.

7. Postmodernity, or Living with Ambivalence.

'Both parts [of the book] contain powerful critiques which contribute significantly to an area of debate which is rapidly coming to define the very promise of the sociological project.' Sociology

'An argument rich in insight, imposing in its range and reference.' New Statesman and Society

'A fascinating and highly original book which tells the story of modern men and women entrapped in ambivalence.' Agnes Heller, New School for Social Research

'[A] remarkable and passionate text.' Sociology

'Sensitive and intellectually highly stimulating work, Modernity and Ambivalence fuses the parochial and the universal, the historical and the theoretical, in a masterly fashion.' Muslim World Book Review

Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017) was Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw. He was the winner of the prestigious European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and the Social Sciences, 1989, he was also awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Prize for 1998. Modernity, argues Bauman, promised to bring the kind of clarity and transparency to human life that only reason can offer. This has not happened, and today we no longer believe that it ever will. We are ever more acutely aware of the irredeemable contingency of our existence, choices, identities and life-projects. Bauman goes on to examine why modernity did not deliver its promise. He argues that the answers lie in the promise itself and in the self-defeating nature of all attempts to fulfil it. Our post-modern age, Bauman suggests, is the time for reconciliation with ambivalence, and the time to learn how to live in an incurably ambiguous world.