#modernity

“in the course of, and through comparison”

“The sociologist influencing Labour's new generation”

“The task for sociology is to come to the help of the individual. We have to be in service of freedom. It is something we have lost sight of.”

“Once governments exclude people you can stop them from being protected. Societies begin to manipulate fears about groups. When the welfare state is in crisis we have to be concerned about such a feature of [society]”

“A good society is a society which believes that it is not good enough; that it is the task of the collectivity to insure individuals against individually suffered misfortune; and that the quality of society is measured by the quality of life of its weakest, just like the carrying power of a bridge is measured by its weakest pillar. Quoted in "Ziggy Stardust" , New Humanist”

“Professor with a past”

“What did that involve, exactly?”

“[After an article by Bogdan Musiał was published in Poland alleging Bauman had worked for the Polish secret service] The fact that I for three years cooperated with intelligence”

“[Following the second world war] If you looked at the political spectrum in Poland at that time, the Communist party promised the best solution. Its political programme was the most fitting for the issues which Poland faced. And I was completely dedicated. Communist ideas were just a continuation of the Enlightenment.”

“Passion and pessimism”