Metaphorically Speaking
—Metaphors as Methodological and Moral Signifiers of the Sociology
of Zygmunt Bauman
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University of Portsmouth
Publication date: 2006-09-30
Polish Sociological Review 2006;155(3):307-324
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ABSTRACT
Zygmunt Bauman is known to be one of the leading social theorists and commentators in
contemporary sociology whose theoretical or diagnostical analysis of phenomena such as globalisation,
community, identity, genocide, individualisation or modernity warrants his status as one of the most widely
read sociologists of our time. However, Bauman throughout his work also develops an often overlooked
methodological stance based to a certain extent on metaphorical reasoning. Throughout this piece, the
authors focus attention on Bauman’s metaphorical cornucopia and how it is informed by a deep-seated
moral commitment. Apart from performing the function of methodological devices unveiling a selective
and subjective, yet deeper, understanding of the social world, the metaphors also reveal the inherently
moral core of Bauman’s sociological endeavour.