This timely book provides a concise but critical introduction to the work of a sociological phenomenon. After introducing the man, his major influences, and his special way of "thinking sociologically," Blackshaw traces the development of Bauman's project by identifying and explaining the two major shifts of emphasis in his work--the postmodern "turn" and the subsequent refocusing on "liquid" modernity. He also offers a clear and accessible guide to the key conceptual hinges that move the reader from one to the other, taking in the ideas of legislators and interpreters, ambivalence, seduction and repression, contingency, and fragmentation.

Tony Blackshaw is Senior Lecturer in sociology at Sheffield Hallam University. He has recently completed two major studies in the sociology of sport and leisure - New Perspectives on Sport and 'Deviance': Consumption, Performativity and Social Control (with Tim Crabbe) (2004) and Leisure Life: Myth, Masculinity and Modernity (2003) - both published by Routledge.

1. An Interim Career Report 2. Bauman's Sociology: His Theory of Modernity 3. The Ways and Means of the Dragoman 4. Freedom and Security in the Liquid Modern Sociality 5. Consumerism as the Liquid Modern Way of Life. Suggestions for Further Reading