Liquid-Modern Emotions: Exploring Zygmunt Bauman’s Contribution to the Sociology of Emotions

This article argues, by way of example, that the work of Zygmunt Bauman may provide an important source of inspiration for the so-called ‘sociology of emotions’, even though his extensive work on emotions so far has remained largely unacknowledged within the sociology of emotions as well as within ‘Bauman studies’. In the article, the author first presents Bauman’s main ideas on the emotions of suffering, ambivalence, freedom, compassion/morality, love, fear and retrotopia/nostalgia, before engaging in a critical discussion of the problems and potentials of his work.