This remarkable book – by one of the most original social thinkers writing today – attempts to trace this transformation and to assess its consequences for the life conditions of ordinary individuals. The first part of the book is devoted to the new global arena in which, thanks to the powerful forces of globalization, there is no 'outside', no secluded place to which one can retreat and hide away, and where the territorial wars of the past have given way to a new breed of 'reconnaissance wars'. The second part deals with settings in which life politics has taken hold and flourished. Bauman argues that the great challenge facing us today is whether we can find new ways to reforge the human diversity that is our fate into the vocation of human solidarity.
Introduction.
PART ONE: GLOBAL POLITICS.
Chapter 1. Chasing the Elusive Society.
Chapter 2. The Great Separation Mark Two.
Chapter 3. Living and Dying in the Planetary Frontier-Land.
PART TWO: LIFE POLITICS.
Chapter 4. (Un)Happiness of Uncertain Pleasures.
Chapter 5. As seen on TV.
Chapter 6. Consuming Life.
Chapter 7.From Bystander to Actor.
CONCLUSION: From Utopia with no Topos.
Notes.
Index
This remarkable book – by one of the most original social thinkers writing today – attempts to trace this transformation and to assess its consequences for the life conditions of ordinary individuals. The first part of the book is devoted to the new global arena in which, thanks to the powerful forces of globalization, there is no 'outside', no secluded place to which one can retreat and hide away, and where the territorial wars of the past have given way to a new breed of 'reconnaissance wars'. The second part deals with settings in which life politics has taken hold and flourished. Bauman argues that the great challenge facing us today is whether we can find new ways to reforge the human diversity that is our fate into the vocation of human solidarity.