Zygmunt Bauman, the ""Tropics of Discourse"", a Word on Pop Culture and the Consumer Society in the Era of ""Liquid Modernity""
Abstract
Zygmunt Bauman's distinctive language style plays an important role in his works and sets him apart from the 'post-modern sociologists', among whom he does not count himself. After a short overview of the metaphors and metonymies that Bauman uses and that a) distinguish himself from the incomprehensible language of the 'post-modernists' and b) open up new perspectives on both classical and new sociological themes, the author turns to Bauman's concept of 'liquid modernity', the cultural substance that for Bauman is part of the consumer society.
While Bauman refrains from entering the debates over 'high' and 'low' culture (he does not use the term 'mass culture' at all), he formulates a number of interesting observations on contemporary 'pop culture'.