Culture, Modernity and Revolution

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.

Richard Kilminster and Ian Varcoe are Lecturers in Sociology at the University of Leeds.

INTRODUCTION: INTELLECTUAL MIGRATION AND SOCIOLOGICAL INSIGHT Part I Culture 1 THE CULTURAL PROGRAMME OF MODERNITY AND DEMOCRACY: SOME TENSIONS AND PROBLEMS 2 THREE ASPECTS OF MODERNITY IN SIMMEL'S PHILOSOPHIE DES GELDES: ITS EPIPHANIC SIGNIFICANCE, THE CENTRALITY OF MONEY AND THE PREVALENCE OF ALIENATION 3 TECHNOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIC POLITICS 4 OMNIVOROUS MODERNITY Part II Revolution 5 THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1989 IN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE IDEA OF REVOLUTION 6 PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF A SOCIALIST ECONOMY IN EUROPE 7 THE SOCIAL ROLE OF EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALS RECONSIDERED 8 A NEW MIDDLE CLASS? 9 DEMOCRACY VERSUS A NEW AUTHORITARIANISM IN EASTERN EUROPE, ADDENDUM: CULTURE AND POWER IN THE WRITINGS OF ZYGMUNT BAUMAN