Abstract

This text of a lecture describes the importance of Zygmunt Bauman's work for sociological theory and intellectual debate in Germany. The main points are: the tension between the German Sonderweg thesis and Bauman's analysis of the Holocaust; the relationship between Bauman's theory of modernity/postmodernity and the writings of Elias, Horkheimer/Adorno and Beck; a critique of Bauman's neglect of democratic alternatives within modernity, particularly American intellectual and political traditions; and a discussion of Bauman's emphasis on pre-societal sources of morality in his postmodern ethics and the pragmatist understanding of intersubjectivity and morality.