Tekutá modernita – Bauman Zygmunt (2020)

The book addresses one of the key concepts introduced by the famous sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. According to him, the idea of liquid modernity is characterized by individualism, an increasing sense of uncertainty, and the privatization of ambivalence. It is a chaotic continuation of modernity, where an individual can freely transition from one social position to another. A typical feature of liquid modernity is nomadism, a person navigating the world like a tourist, changing places, jobs, partners, values, political and sexual orientations, without creating or participating in traditional networks of relationships and responsibilities. These are replaced by personal, entirely individual choices. Bauman divides the examination of the changes that the onset of liquid modernity brings to the human situation into five parts, in which he analyzes the transformations of fundamental modern concepts in detail: 1. the effort for emancipation, 2. the idea of individualization – the notion that it is up to the individual to become who they want to be, 3. the idea of progress and work as a means to control the future, 4. the separation of time and space, 5. the nation-state.