Liquid Times (2007)

The passage from “solid” to “liquid” modernity has created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with challenges never before encountered. Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify or serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term plans, so individuals must find other ways to organise their lives. They piece together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that do not form a sequence to which concepts such as “career” and “progress” can meaningfully be applied. Such fragmented lives require constant flexibility and adaptability, readiness to change tactics at short notice, abandon commitments and loyalties without regret, and pursue opportunities as they become available. In liquid modernity, individuals must act, plan and calculate the likely gains and losses of their choices under conditions of endemic uncertainty. In this short and accessible book, Zygmunt Bauman explores the sources of the uncertainty shaping contemporary life and introduces his original account of our liquid modern times, developed at greater length in his previous works.