Abstract
The main ideas underlying Bauman’s liquid modernity are explained and then extended to incorporate current ideas about complexity and turbulence. This combination is used to argue that although Bauman himself refuses to offer any resolution to the paradoxes of liquid modernity, complexity theory may be useful: in particular the argument that the seemingly chaotic may actually result in some sort of order. The section also points to the ways in which liquid modernity provides a constant reminder of the underside of contemporary existence; vagabonds and waste as well as tourists and flexibility.
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