Sketches in Cultural Theory

Sketches in Cultural Theory Book Description The book you have in your hand is a work of Bauman, who could not find shelter in his own country in 1968 due to his views and oppositional attitudes and had to leave his country, which he thought was lost. This work, which belongs to a brilliant thinker whose thoughts and works were banned in the country just as it was being prepared for publication, is like a "message in a bottle." This message, which was found in a library archive and met with the reader years later, offers us a lot of valuable information about how a great thinker like Bauman established his intellectual framework in the late 1960s. In this total of articles, which can be considered a treasure trove for sociology students and Bauman followers, Bauman brings together with the readers the critical theoretical approaches of the period, cultural readings, education and youth phenomena, ideas that focus on the distinctive qualities of modernity and that will later form the basis for the concept of "liquid modernity". Accessing what an important thinker like Bauman said on cultural theories and critical culture readings in an early period makes the "message in a bottle" valuable even after many years. In Bauman's words, there are two assumptions hidden in the "message in a bottle" allegory: First of all, it is appropriate to write in the middle and it is suitable for writing and do not throw the bottle into the water. It's supposed to be a message worth the trouble. Secondly, when found and read, it is considered a message worth the trouble of the person who finds it to open the bottle, read, assimilate and adopt what is inside. The message in the bottle expresses the transience of disappointment and the permanence of hope, the indestructibility of possibilities, and the difficulties that prevent their realization can be overcome. We hope this work will be a tool for such expression for the readers... Zygmunt Bauman: Born in Poland in 1925, Bauman experienced fascism, socialism and capitalism respectively, keeping a critical distance and never compromising his independent intellectual personality. After his deportation from Poland in 1968, he went to Israel and from there to Britain to become head of the Department of Sociology at Leeds University. Bauman, who served in this position between 1971 and 1990, has produced works that expand the framework of sociological perspective on almost every subject since the early years. Bauman is a writer who loves generalizations; but instead of methodology and concept discussions, it deals directly with society. His works revolve around a problem and diagnosis. In this sense it breaks with British tradition. His immigration, like his predecessors K. Mannheim, A. Löwe, N. Elias, gave him the opportunity to look from the outside at the island culture shaped by an empirical and pragmatic tradition. Also, like them, he brings truth and morality to sociology. Bauman gave special importance to the analysis of culture and power, and within this framework, he brought a new breath to sociology by addressing the issues of society, ideologies, national identities, state, moral choice, modernism and postmodernism. Bauman, who fit many valuable works into his long life, passed away on January 9, 2017. (From the Promotional Bulletin)