This text of a lecture describes the importance of Zygmunt Bauman's work for sociological theory and intellectual debate in Germany. The main points are: (1) the tension between the German Sonderweg thesis and Bauman's analysis of the Holocaust; (2) the relationship between Bauman's theory of modernity/postmodernity and the writings of Elias, Horkheimer/Adorno and Beck; (3) a critique of Bauman's neglect of democratic alternatives within modernity, particularly American intellectual and political traditions; and (4) a discussion of Bauman's emphasis on pre-societal sources of morality in his postmodern ethics and the pragmatist understanding of intersubjectivity and morality.
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